This Beautiful World of Mine
by Yokai Moon
Summary: When an expedition to Yamatai goes horribly wrong, Sam is forced to rely on Lara for survival. After finding out Lara's been stranded on the island for six years, Sam decides to take her back to civilization when everything is said and done. But how can she tame the savage that Lara has become when the rest of the world, and her feelings, keep getting in the way? LaraxSam A/U
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Tomb Raider (not even the copy of the game, sad huh?).

Took bloody forever to find a title for this story I like, but I'm still not happy with it. This story was inspired a little bit by the concept of Tarzan (wild man living in the jungle away from civilization etc etc, but that's as far as it goes). If you don't like lesbian loving/yuri, or Lara and Sam together...go away. Everyone else, enjoy and be sure to drop a review to let me know what you think.

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**Chapter 1: Land Ho**

_Endurance_

Samantha was ecstatic as she packed her belongings into a small, black backpack.

Hours ago land had been spotted; in less than hour Samantha would be getting off this suffocating ship and could finally breathe in the natural jungle air, and get further away from one annoying Dr. James Whitman. As vital as he was to making her documentary a success, he reminded Samantha of a spoiled, little brat. He had done nothing but complain about the food and how he was seasick, never lifted a single hand to help cook for the crew members, and had insulted Samantha throughout the trip from the mainlands, ridiculing her filming techniques and how she never got his "good side".

If he had a good side, Samantha was more than capable of capturing it. He was just being an asshole at this point, but then everyone was growing a bit testy from being at sea for so long. Samantha wished she had brought her magazines or something to keep her mind occupied while she was here. If she had WiFi then everything would be okay; all she had was a dying IPad and a useless cellphone.

Roth, the man who agreed to take Samantha on the expedition, had repeatedly stepped between fights. He almost always took Samantha aside to smooth out her ruffled feathers after an argument with James. Roth was a man always got to the point without telling too many stories; he never beat around the bush, so it didn't come to a surprise when he pointed out time and again that even though Whitman was the saltiest pain in everyone's arse Samantha still needed a well-known star to make her documentary a hit. He promised once she got everything she needed he would dump Whitman in the ocean on their way home and make him swim the rest of the way to land.

Just the thought of watching that fool swim thousands of miles back to Japan was enough to keep Samantha placid around the TV star, but now that she was close to their destination Whitman could insult her mother for all she cared. This moment was what she had what she was waiting for and putting up with him was just a small price to pay.

"Sam, we reach land in fifteen," Roth said behind the closed door.

"Thanks," Samantha replied, "Be out in a minute."

She listened to the footsteps of the captain walk away, waiting until they vanished before the young woman pulled her camera, her personal favorite, from the desk drawer and turned it on. Grinning from ear to ear, Samantha pointed the camera to herself:

"Digital Diary Entry number 34...and...action..." Samantha put on her best smile for the camera, "_Well everyone, today is the day we finally step foot on Yamatai, an island located in the_ *insert scary voice* _Dragon's Triangle_ ooooooo scary," Samantha laughs at herself for a moment before continuing, "_Anyways, I finally decided to put my mark on the map of film-making and go after the Ezo Ōkami, or for all you Latin nerds out there: canis lupus hattai_."

Samantha quickly turned the camera to the pile of notes she had yet to put away in her backpack, slowly hovering the camera over each map, illustration, and random scribbles. She zoomed in now and again of images that depicted the wolf.

"_These_ _are all the notes that were gathered about this supposedly extinct species. In the late 1800s, the Ezo wolves disappeared from Japan without a trace, but many of the people believed they were driven into extinction by over-hunting. Their fur was used for keeping warm and their bones used as decorations. Legends say the great Himiko, a goddess in Japanese mythology, moved the wolves when she saw them being killed off. She gathered all the wolves on a tiny island and split from the main land, so naturally no one would ever see them again. Now, I know what you're wondering: why would Himiko, a goddess who could control storms and wind, care so deeply for these creatures to want to remove them from their natural habitat_s?"

Samantha turned the camera to face her; she wore a serious look on her face.

"_While researching this Himiko, I discovered that I am a decedent of this great goddess, and that her tomb is somewhere on Yamtai. The wolves are my number one priority and if we happen across her tomb, I'll be sure to get footage for everyone. Until then_: Digital Diary Entry 34 end."

With that she turned the camera in her hands and quickly turned it off. Satisfied with her commentary, Samantha set the device in her bag before shuffling all her notes on top of it. The ship swayed slightly, before it jerked for a split second. Samantha lost her foot in that second and fell backwards on her behind, cursing profoundly in Japanese as her bag, that was still open, fell with her and its contents spilled on her lap. Now having to repack her bag, Samantha grounded her teeth together and gathered the items that had become scattered around her.

Then came the loud knocking at her door.

"Sam, it's me, Joslin! Roth says he dropped anchor and we'll be takin' the rafts to shore." the woman said, "James says we pack lightly; we're only making two trips for the equipment and essentials."

"Perfect!" Samantha exclaimed. This was just great. An over egotistical prick making decisions about _her _belongings. She threw the gathered papers in her arm into the air without a care, "Does he want me to leave my camera too!?"

"That's what he said."

Samantha released a scream of anguish, "That's it!"

The young girl picked herself off the floor and stomped over to her door and ripped it open, startling the older woman on the other wide. The Japanese girl had a blood lust in her eye and Joslin wisely stepped aside so that she could pass, quickly telling her that James was on deck. With a quick 'thank you' Samantha took off and went above to the deck. He wasn't hard to spot; he was yelling at the top of his lungs at Johan, who was loading the raft, because apparently "sound check mics don't go into the Samanthae box with the headphones".

"Hey Wittman!" Samantha shouted, approaching the two with haste, "Where do you get off at telling me I can't bring my camera!?"

James turned his head to look over his shoulder. He adjusted his glasses on his nose, "Well, we can't carry too much on the island. If something happens to our equipment we're screwed."

"I'll take care of what's mine, you can take care of what's yours!" Samantha countered. She glared at the older man, "Don't forget whose signing your paychecks buddy."

"Your father, and he told me he wants _exclusive_ footage of this documentary and I will not jeopardize my "paycheck" because you want to take free shots of the wildlife. Who knows who you might sell the tapes to."

"Excuse me?!" Samantha exclaimed. She was ready to throw the man overboard, "This is _my_ documentary and if I want to use my own fucking equipment I will! You're only here because-"

"You need the sodding, son of a prick," Roth whispered in Samantha's ear. He had stepped behind Samantha and placed a calming hand on her shoulder, hoping to have calm her down a bit. He knew she was seething with rage by the way she shook, but decided it was best to have James back off, before _he_ was the one who tossed him off the boat, "Johan, see to it that Dr. Whitman has all he needs. We're going inland now."

"Aye, aye captain," the tall, dark-skinned male saluted before returning to his task.

Roth moved Samantha along, gently nudging her to walk away and follow him (away from James). He handed Samantha her pack and told her, once they were out of earshot, that he had put everything in her room that she needed for the trip. Samantha, still wound up with her fight with James, opened her bag and saw her camera lens shining between her notebooks. She would give Roth a kiss if she didn't seem him as a father figure.

"Will you be coming on land with us?" Samantha asked.

Roth shook his head, "No; I did put a two way radio in there. Channel was already set to 3. If he gives you anymore trouble just let me know and I'll swim over."

Samantha giggled and gave the captain a hug, "Thank you, Roth."

"Anytime, now get goin'; you'll need to be there to direct the first landing on that island," Roth said as he returned the hug.

He let her go, ruffling her hair, then left to take care of his duties as captain.

Samantha didn't want to continue this horrid expedition without Roth by her side, but she had to suck it up. This was going to be next big thing next to the creation of the Apple tech; even if James's face was going to be plastered all over it, it would still be _hers_. She would edit the footage personally and give it to her dad the minute she returned to Japan; he would air it on his network and she'll be famous for her discovery. All she had to do was put up with Roth...no problem.

Samantha looked to the island; the sun was just beginning to rise giving the island a shining halo. She forgot, in that moment, that she would be filming the greatest documentary ever seen by humanity and took in the magnificence that Yamatai was. She could sense the restlessness in the winds; the island was beckoning her to come and explore its secrets and uncover treasures the world has never seen. The feeling was far different from when she stole her father's car for a night, or when she sneaked off after dark to go to that frat house party or when she climbed Tokyo Tower.

This was going to be the greatest adventure of her life.

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**Second Encounter: Is there such thing as a Russian native on a Japanese island?...I doubt it.**


	2. Chapter 2

If you are viewing this fic from a mobile device you might not be able to see the foreign language inserts. Up ahead: poorly translated Russian via Bing translator. No I will not be translating it in English at the end. I have NOTHING against Russians.

Also I was gonna wait till Saturday to upload this chapter, but because I finally turned 21 today, consider this my gift to you.

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**Chapter Two: Those Damn Russians**

_Fucking perfect..._Samantha thought bitterly.

Her brain was stuck between being scared shitless and royally pissed off; not many people could face the barrel of a gun and be as annoyed as she was at that moment, but Samantha was making history. She was hoping her first day on Yamatai would go smoothly, but apparently that wasn't going to happen. Oh no, she just wanted to set up the equipment and get a few shots of James making a fool of himself as he tried to unload the boat. She didn't ask to be yelled at by a bunch of guys in Russian and be forced to stand in a line with the rest of her crew on the beach, waiting for a miracle.

It was just too much to ask for a good day apparently.

"Что ты здесь делаешь?" one of the four men said. He sounded very irritated, "Ответь мне."

_English, motherfucker, do you speak it?_

Samantha, with her hands held high, slowly began to put her arms down, but didn't reach for anything. Her need to pacify the otherwise upset Russians, and it was overriding the sensory in her brain that told her : "Gun equals bullet equals death". She had a gun pointed at her before. It was on her sixteenth birthday, but luckily no one got hurt. She even used one when her father took her to the shooting range. She wasn't _that_ afraid. She just had to proceed with caution. Maybe introducing herself and telling them why they were there would help ease the tension. The four men were wearing business type suits (though they were dirty and riddled with holes and cuts in the fabric) so they weren't natives that was for sure which meant they could probably be reasoned with. It was a long shot, but Samantha was willing to go for it.

"Um..Hi," Samantha spoke up, "My name is Samantha Nishimura. This is my crew." She gestured to James, Joslin, and Johan, "We're here to film a documentary on the wolves here. Nothing more, so you can um...put 'em away?"

The men gave each other sideways glances, before the one who was pointing his gun at Whittman spoke to the man (who looked like he hasn't shaved in weeks) on his right.

"Что вы думаете, Адам?"

"Мы называем босса. Может быть, он будет знать, что с ними делать," the scroungy beard man stepped away from the group, eyes glued to Samantha, but he put his gun back into its holster before pulling out a walkie-talkie, "Sir, (Samantha: _Oh apparently he does speak English)_ we have the people who arrived off that ship off the shore...three, two female and two males...some kind of documentary the girl said, they have some equipment too, but doesn't seem that high-tech (Samantha: _Hey!)_...no, doesn't look like it..."

There was a long pause from Scroungy; he bobbed his head up and down seemingly bored than paying attention to what was being said. Samantha inched over to her friends, gesturing for them to put there hands down when she felt the tension in the air slowly begin to defuse once Scroungy let out a sigh.

"Yes, sir, I understand..."

He put the walkie-talkie back into his pocket and returned to his comrades side. He then gave a quick nod of his head and the others put their guns away obediently.

"Sorry for the trouble," he said, but he didn't sound _that_ apologetic, "We were under strict orders not to let people go further in, but our boss says that you're good to go as long as you're not going towards the waterfalls. He told me to warn you that the area around there is too dangerous for a crew like yours."

Samantha nodded in agreement, knowing well enough not to argue back with a gang of fellows with pistols and handguns. Whoever their 'boss' was, was not looking out for their well-being that much Samantha caught on by the sound of Scroungy's tone.

"We also were given orders to assist you with tracking down a wolf or two for you-"

"You mean they exist?!" Samantha gasped. Her jaw would have hit the ground if it wasn't attached to her mouth.

Scroungy scratched his beard as he spoke with his Russian accent, "But of course. Yamatai is crawling with wolves found nowhere else in the world. Bigger and faster, stronger even."

This was not something Samantha was expecting. The point of this documentary was to find trace and _if_ they were lucky maybe a wolf, but she didn't think she would find any at all, but now...things were different.

"But we request you keep us out your cameras."

No, that wasn't suspicious at all.

Samantha had no choice but to agree to the conditions (there were more than two apparently). The other terms were that any weapons were to be handed over, traps such as the nets and small cages could stay with them, but tranquilizer guns had to be handed over. Whitman grumbled to himself the entire time, calling it unfair and ridiculous, and Samantha would have happily told him to tell the gun-wielding-mafia looking men to sod off if he felt there was an injustice. Of course there was, Samantha thought, but she wasn't about to let a little mafia encounter keep her from filming. Things were just going to approached differently.

Scroungy was really patient for someone who was the first to draw his gun when Samantha and the others set foot on the island. He waited for James to get his makeup on (probably laughing on the inside at the sight of a grown man putting on powder), and for Samantha to set up the first couple of cameras to begin recording. There was never going to be more than five people exploring the island; Samantha wanted to keep the project as isolated as possible. With Joslin controlling the sound microphones and Johan manning the cameras, what was there for anyone else? Too many people would probably upset the balance of nature, but Samantha was also glad no one else was here to discover that there were fucking Russians on the island. She'd have to tell Roth and the others via radio when they went back to base camp.

Once everything was set up to begin the first, official recording, Samantha looked to Scroungy to make sure he, and the rest of his buddies, were out the camera. She then looked to James, who was standing confidently in front of the lens, and decided that was the only time he would ever look brave, "We're on in three...two..."

The cameras were rolling.

"_Good morning ladies and gentleman and welcome to the first episode of_ Illusory Beasts-"

"Cut!" Samantha shouted, startling Johan who immediately stopped the recording. Not even one minute in the recording and they were at each other's throats, "James, we agreed that the title would be '_Tracking the Pack'_."

James cleared his throat, then adjusted the glasses on his nose, "I figured it would be more dramatic."

"Dr. Whitman..." Joslin warned, eyeballing James like she wanted to hand him over to the Russians and just ask them to shoot him dead.

"What?" James shot back defensively.

"We'll edit the name out and just try not to mention it again until we're done here," Samantha said. She didn't have the patience right now, not with the 'natives' eyeing them like _they_ were lunatics, "Take 2!"

James made himself presentable and started again, "_Good morning ladies and gentlemen. My name is Dr. James Whitman_-"

Samantha drowned him out at that point. She allowed her mind to wander. The island was beautiful, and they were only on the edge. She could hear nature singing through the trees and wild brush and she took a moment to marvel at it. How an island managed to remain untouched by the outside world was truly amazing. Eventually, however, it was time to move on to another part of the island with the 'safe' guidance of Scroungy beard. They didn't get far though. Just twenty feet into the jungle James whacked his head against a lower branch, knocking himself unconscious.

Samantha groaned loudly, raising her head to the sky and cursed something foul in Japanese. The Russian crew was laughed hysterically; they had to lean against the other to keep their balance, but to Samantha this was no laughing matter.

James was supposed to be a natural at talking and paying attention; how the hell did he miss that branch to begin with? Why the hell did she have to hire him again and without Roth to remind her why, Samantha was inclined to send him back to the main ship.

_Idiot._

"Looks like we'll just be setting up traps for the day," Reyes sighed, as they made their way back to base camp.

One of the men was kind enough to give James a piggyback ride back-now that was hilarious.

Samantha agreed, "I suppose it's for the best. We can set a trap, wait for one to be caught and then get footage of James trying to tag it."

Johan let out a bark of laughter at the idea, "We're probably going to have to save him from one."

"Yeah, it'll end up trying to bite his arm off, if we let it," Joslin chuckled.

"You two are evil," Samantha snickered, but wasn't disagreeing with the idea either. It would have made this trip totally worth it if she got footage of James getting his arm torn off by one of the wolves-if they managed to catch one.

Scroungy walked besides Samantha, "We can set the traps in designated areas if you would like. There are many places on Yamatai that the wolves avoid, but will venture in thinner jungles to catch prey."

"That would be perfect," Samantha said, not wanting to turn down the offer, "We have nets-"

"I doubt that would hold them," Scroungy beard replied, "These wolves would tear through rope if given the opportunity. Those cages you have are only big enough to catch pups, maybe a few month old."

Well that was disappointing.

"But we can set up the cages you have with the traps we have," Scroungy offered, "And when one is caught we will simply radio you."

"That's very generous of you, but why go through all the trouble for us?" Samantha asked curiously.

Scroungy shrugged, "Boss says to help when we can, and personally I think the sooner you are off this island the better."

But _that_ was interesting.

"Oh why is that?"

"Because Himiko doesn't like trespassers."

_...say what now? _Samantha stared at the back of Scroungy as he walked ahead.

She heard him barking something in Russian to the other men when they finally arrived at base camp and they gathered whatever traps Samantha bought along.

"We'll radio you when we've set these up."

"Okay..." Samantha muttered as she walked past Scroungy to her bag.

She took out her personal camera and went somewhere quiet, away from the barking madness. She went as far as a small cliff that outstretched a few feet over the water, the island's jungle was too her back. Taking in a deep breath, Samantha turned her camera on and pointed it to her.

"Digital Diary Entry number 35..._Well folks, day one was a total bust, we have to rely on the Russian Mafia Brothers to set traps for us after they held us at gun point and __our wonderfully, stupid star knocked himself out. Fan-fucking-tastic__. At least the wolves are real, that's what the traps are now being used for. We were originally just going to use them for bears or potential wildlife that would harm us...but now they'll be used to catch Ezo wolves. Cool huh? We might actually see one. Sucky part is we can't go out further than what this crazy 'boss' of those Russians guy will allow. Now I don't feel like tempting Fate and challenging this guy. I want to live to see this through to the end_."

Samantha turned the camera out so it was now facing the sea. She panned the device across the waters.

"_Barely even twelve 'o clock and my day's already fucked up. Funny isn't it, this adventure can just turn out to be one, big joke God played on me in the end. I suppose it wouldn't matter, if I don't find anything. At least I can say I tried and I mean, look at this place. It's beautiful."_

She turned around to face the jungle.

_"I can't believe a place like this existed really. Only a few people has ever found this place, and lived long enough to write about it and I plan to be one of those few, well minus the dying part. I don't plan on doing a lot of that while I'm here. __Until next time_." Samantha faced the camera to her, smiling big into the lens, "Digital Diary Entry number 35...end."

It was always relaxing for her to be in front of a camera, letting out all her pent up frustrations on a recording so she could later play it back and laugh. Samantha grinned from ear to ear when she decided to rewind the current entry to see what sorts of faces she was making. It was also very fun to see what she did unconsciously. Maybe what her dad said was true: maybe she did scrunched her nose whenever she talked about James.

She pushed play.

"_-our wonderfully, stupid star knocked himself out..."_

Samantha's eyes narrowed, and she pushed pause.

That couldn't have been right.

She rewound to the beginning and when she got to to the part where she was describing James, she paused. There, in the brush, was an arrow head. It wasn't stuck from what it looked like; the tip was too straight and it was pointing directly at Samantha's back. Tensing, Samantha quickly forwarded the tape and played it just as she turned the camera to the forest. The arrow was gone. The Asian broke out into a cold sweat and continued to rewind and fast forward the footage, praying that it was just a trick of the light, the sun, anything.

But it wasn't.

Slowly, Samantha turned her head to look over her shoulder, but she saw nothing. None of the Russians she saw had anything primitive like a bow and arrow, maybe it was a native, she reasoned and he or she just wanted to make sure Samantha wasn't a threat. That was it, but that wasn't it at all, because deep down Samantha knew someone else was on this island and if Samantha hadn't turned around when she did she probably would have died.

Samantha let out a sigh and covered her eyes with her hand, "Fucking perfect..."

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**Third Encounter: ****Crazy cultists do exist apparently...**


	3. Chapter 3

More badly translated Russian ahead. On another note: thank you to everyone who put on alert/faved/viewed/reviewed (even you Guests, who are too lazy to log in or create an account to leave one review). You guys are the reason why I blew off my school work, much love to ya. Also edited chapter 2 cause I spotted some minor mistakes.

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**Chapter Three: The Brothers of Solarii **

Five days.

Five bloody days of nothing.

Samantha didn't expect any results from the Russians; they weren't exactly the reliable source, but nonetheless they were her only chance of finding anything. They haven't come back since they set off, so Samantha wondered if they just left, wandered so far away that they simply forget what they were doing in the first place. That would be understandable, but also a waste to have waited for nothing for five days.

Five days of nothing productive was starting to drive Samantha crazy. If she was back home she would have probably thrown a party then set her house on fire. She even considered tracking down that native who was ready to shoot her in the back with an arrow, but the thought quickly passed when she remembered how useless her tracking skills were. Samantha was ever curious about that native that held her at arrow point, but she didn't bother telling anyone else about it. Maybe he was long gone or the Russians killed him when he ran off? Who knew, and if Samantha tried to show anyone the video without physical proof anyone was there they'd think she was crazy.

Crazy is really the only solution to a problem. It can get even the most vile criminal out of hard time in prison.

Sighing heavily, Samantha fiddled with her camera. That's all she could do besides listening to James complain about not getting paid to sit around and doing nothing. She was inclined to agree with him, but then that would seem like she actually cared about him and his opinion. Samantha would rather give up her credit cards and shopping than be on James side for any reason. Maybe if she laced his toilet paper with some bugs they would crawl up his ass and lay eggs, and when those eggs hatched the baby bugs would band together and start eating him from the inside out, giving him a painfully long death.

Samantha facepalmed at her own thoughts. She was crazy, but not _that_ crazy. Just the thought of killing someone remotely close to her made Sam sick to her stomach, even she wouldn't consciously wish death on someone even if that person was as annoying as James.

"You okay girl?" Joslin asked, catching Sam's facepalming.

"Fine, I'm fine," Samantha groaned, waving the other woman off.

Said woman frowned deeply, "Come on Sam, what's eatin' you?"

Samantha shrugged, "Guess I'd rather be reading this week's Fashion Weekly than sitting around here."

"You hate that magazine."

"My point exactly! I'm close to climbing the trees and pulling a Tarzan!"

Joslin raised an eyebrow, "What is that exactly?"

"It's where Sam goes into a tree and swings from branch to branch," Johan explained, "She's pretty good at that, apparently she was shipped off to the UK because she threw some party and wound up swingin' from her old man's chandelier. Broke the poor thing too."

Samantha puffed up a little with pride at the mention of the party, "What? It was a really awesome party and it wasn't my fault. I was too wasted to remember how it happened, but all I know is I got up there and took it down."

The other woman gave a mocking gasp, "Oh you poor girl, you must be itchin' for somethin' exciting then."

"Yeah," well it was _partly _the truth. Part of her also wanted to go search for that maniac who had an arrow pointed at her backside, "But those Russian fellows aren't reporting in. You'd think they would find something by now..."

"These wolves ain't just gonna walk into a trap," Joslin sighed. She nuzzled her cheek into the palm of her hand, "I'd say the Russians were just bluffin' at this point."

"Think we should give Roth a ring?" Samantha asked.

"Nah, this is nothin' we can' handle."

Samantha cracked a smile, "They only have us out gunned three to two, we can take 'em."

"Here's an idea, give 'em a flash of the twins and see how long it takes for them to drop their guns."

"Don't you mean get 'em up?" Sam laughed.

"Oh gross!" Johan blanched. He started to look a little green, "Change the subject please, I'm begging you."

"Oh, hey maybe we can make them beg!" Samantha felt her smile growing bigger, "And when they can't take it anymore we-"

There was a crackling from the walkie-talkie, interrupting Samantha's ingenious plan.

_You there, Asian?_

Samantha rolled her eyes and clicked the button on the side, "Yes, I'm here."

_Good news, managed to bag you a big fellow. I'm sending a crew over to pick you up and bring you to the trap zone. Bring everyone you got and be ready to shoot the greatest animal alive._

Best idea all day.

Samantha practically wet her pants with excitement and when everyone heard the good news everyone was on their feet and ready to go to work. They scrambled to gather whatever extra film and tags they could stuff in a bag and by the time they were ready, two Russians emerged from the brush. Samantha was shaking again; it was a good sign. She didn't even care that James was reciting whatever script he'd written in his spare time. As they followed the Russians deeper into the forest; Samantha couldn't help but film some of the old shrines that were scattered around the area. They were old, rundown and deserted temples, but that just meant more footage her. Sam even allowed James a few shots in to explain some of the architectural aspects of some of the shines, if she didn't know how to explain some of the small statues scattered around the trail. Whitman actually knew what he was talking about, so he would be given credit for that.

"Ah there you are! Over here, quickly!" Scroungy Beard called, once he had spotted them.

The small group practically tripped over their feet to catch a glimpse of the extinct wolf. Samantha was the first to approach the darkened, hunched over creature that was tangled in the nets, but kept her distance. She didn't know what the beast was capable of and she didn't want to unnerve it any further. Not like she could get closer even if she wanted to; Scroungy beard wouldn't let anyone get within a two foot radius it. He fed the small film group that it was probably more agitated now that there was a larger group of people around it, but Sam found it was strange how it was just still on the ground, but if it was calm now then they could film. It didn't take long for things to be set up; there was plenty of day light and hopefully they didn't have to re-shoot a scene.

"Set up the cameras!" Samantha squealed excitedly, "Get ready Dr. Whitman!"

"Right away," he replied with an equal amount of glee.

Samantha rushed the Russians away from the camera, so she could not only abide by her end of the bargain, but get them out of the way. They were standing too close to the wolf, which meant too far into the scene, which meant they needed to go away.

"We're on and three...two...one, action!" Samantha declared once everything was ready.

James took his cue and walked around the captured wolf, kneeling to it's side as he looked up to the camera, "_Well here we have ladies and gentleman, after five days of fruitless searching we finally have with us today a wolf that could only be found on the extinction list. We won't hurt it any more than it is; I am simply going to tag it, so we can track its whereabouts at all time via radio waves and signals."_ He pulls out a small chip and, very gently, placed his hand on the wolf, "_I am going to insert this chip under it's skin and-_Hey wait a minute?"_  
_

"What's wrong now?" Samantha groaned. She waved her hand in front of Johan to get him to kill the recording, "Don't tell me you're afraid to do it. Hell, I'll tag it my damn self, if you want-"

"This...isn't fur," James's eyes grew wide as he squeeze the net and whatever was under it, "This is-"

A soft moan came from beneath the nets, then a hiss of pain, "Черт...побери, что болит..."

Samantha's eyes were as big as James's, "D-d-did that wolf just..." Samantha saw the shadow over her, and she knew what would happen; she simply wasn't quick enough to move.

The last thing she saw was James scrambling away and then she heard a high pitched whine just as her world went black.

* * *

When Samantha woke up she noticed two very important things: her head was killing her and her hands were tied behind her back. Which one she realized was irrelevant, but after duly noting both she noticed one other thing: a perverted old man was staring at her. Nothing could describe how Samantha felt about the old man just staring at her. She didn't even care if she was in some sort of crypt, surrounded by ancient Japanese and statues of some woman. There were large cracks in the slabs of rock, but maybe a corpse or two in the corners, but Samantha didn't care. No, her problem was the creepy old timer leering at her.

"W-what's going on?" Samantha demanded, "Where's my friends?!"

He smiled, but completely ignored her questions, "The great Sun Goddess truly shines her divine light down upon us."

"Sun...Goddess?" Samantha repeated.

The man wearing the priestly robes threw down a journal in front of Samantha and she knew exactly what it was: her notes.

"Hey those are mine!" Samantha exclaimed angrily, struggling against her bonds.

Only someone with a death wish would touch her belongings. When did he get it, is the question. Was it the Russians? Of course it was the fucking Russians! They went through their stuff the day she landed on Yamatai.

"You, a decedent of the Sun Goddess, have been brought to us as a blessing!" The man continued, "I am Mathias, and I shall resurrect Himiko using you, my dear girl. Rejoice, for this is a duty only few get a chance to partake."

"R...resurrect?" Samantha questioned. Her mouth hung open in disbelief, "Are you crazy, you old man?! Let me go! When my father hears about this he'll send you and whoever's working with you straight to the nuthouse!"

"I have to thank you as well, child," he was ignoring her again. He was really starting to piss her off now. "For without you we would not have captured our greatest enemy of all." It was almost as if it was on cue a body fell against the ground. A pained moan escaped the body, and Samantha instantly recognized it as the thing that was under the net. Scroungy Beard stepped on the person's body, grinding the heel of his boot into his body, _"She_ was always giving us trouble ever since we found her. We thought tying her up and leaving her for dead in the jungle would work...she's managed to elude us ever since, but now we have her..."

Scroungy gave a smile that Samantha never knew a person could make (a sane person anyways), "You two can stay here until we've prepared the ceremony. She'll be perfect game for the Storm Guard."

"Come Boris, we have much to prepare for," Mathias said, shuffling past the large man, "We must let the others know our plans are almost complete."

"You can't leave me here!" Samantha screamed.

"Shut her up would you?" Mathias sighed, "Then meet me outside."

"Sure boss," Boris, formally known as Scroungy beard, nodded. He walked over to Samantha, who was still screaming, "Shut up!" he kicked her hard in the stomach.

The force was enough to knock the air in her lungs, and it was far more intense than when she got hit in the back of her head. She hunched over in pain; Boris merely walked out of the crypt, whistling a merry tune, not having a care in the world as Samantha fell to her side gasping for air. She coughed violently as her vision began to fade, but faintly she could hear the echo of the crazy old man outside, somewhere, making an announcement. Samantha wondered where her friends were. She wanted to know if they were safe, even James, and that's what surprised her the most. She wondered if they were going to kill her.

"With this sacrifice together we will resurrect Himiko and bring forth a new world," Samantha heard Mathias shouting, and then came a crowd of cheering, almost like a stadium full of people crying for joy when their team scored a goal, "A world where there is no war or suffering. All will be ruled by the Sun Queen, Himiko! All praise the great Himiko!"

"All praise Himiko!"

"Himiko!"

"-ko!"

"Him-"

Samantha could faintly hear the chanting now, as she slipped in and out of unconsciousness and the last thing she saw was the blurry image of the net entrapped figure inch her way over to her and reach out with blood covered hands, then nothing.

* * *

Boris...best. generic. name. EVER!

**Fourth Encounter: The girl covered in dirt and blood**


	4. Chapter 4

_I usually don't do this, but one person is a guest and the other I was just too lazy to reply to directly._

**Anonymous (who wrote this: "So Lara was watching Sam...wonder how she will treat Sam. Does Lara still consider her a threat?") **I think this chapter might answer that question to a degree. I have to say though, Lara never considered Sam to be a threat. It'll be explained at a later time though.

**Zubba:** Thank you so very much, because of you I scrapped my first idea of Sam and Lara's official meeting and replaced it with something involving wolves. Really, it made this chapter a tad bit longer then I originally intended. Everybody wins!

* * *

**Chapter Four: The 'Wolf' Girl**

Samantha could smell it: the pungent odor of burning wood. The scent was so strong it burned the back of her tongue and made her eyes water. She could hear screaming too, but didn't know from what or who. Her mind was numb, her body felt heavy. All she wanted to do was curl up in her bed with the covers pulled over her head and just sleep, but the noise was preventing her from doing so. She felt rough hands grab her arm, but Samantha was too weak to struggle and she simply allowed herself to fall against a soft surface.

Her body felt weightless.

The smell of rain and dirt filled her nose and she buried her face in her tangled pillow.

"Mhghh..." Sam murmured tiredly into her pillow; she wasn't awake, but wasn't fully asleep either. Samantha was back home in her bed, "Fivmo mins da..."

The screams and the smell of fire and smoke was growing further and further way and soon it was replaced by the light crunch of leaves and rushing water; there was a cold breeze in the air. Samantha felt the chill of the winds die when the sound of crunching of leaves turned into shuffling. The smell of dirt was replaced with an odor more foul, but she didn't care when her body was placed against something softer, more furrier than what she felt before. Almost immediately she allowed herself to clench onto the warmth.

When Samantha would wake up, she'd apologize to her dad for breaking the chandelier.

* * *

Something was biting her.

Sam groaned weakly and kicked at whatever was nipping at her ankle. The warmth she felt was gone, but she was starting to become aware that she was not in her room, let alone her house.

"Dammit..." Samantha moaned as she sat up, rubbing her head when she felt a sharp pain, "What happened-"

A soft growling snapped her out of it and she frantically looked around for the source of the noise. She was in a cave, that much she gathered from looking around, and large nests were scattered across the area with bones of various shapes and sizes littering the ground. Samantha felt her blood go cold when a soft tugging on her pants. Praying it wasn't trying to eat her, Sam nervously looked down, but found it nothing to be worried about. A small pup was pulling at her pants leg, making a sort of whimpering growl as it failed to pull the item free. She wasn't sure why it was trying to do it and for what, but it was trying its hardest to take them off. Scoffing at the pint-sized dog, Sam shooed it away before she stood up, wondering how she got in the cave in the first place.

"Last thing I remember..." Samantha said to herself as she looked around, "Some crazy old geezer."

Her stomach was hurting again, but she didn't think to much about it.

"I have to get back to Roth," Samantha said, "I know he'll help me look for the others."

She took a step towards one of the tunnels, but the pup started tugging on her pants again.

"I don't have time to play right now," the short-haired girl huffed, pulling her leg from the pup, "Shoo!"

A snarl was heard, and Samantha knew that wasn't from the pup. Standing a mere two feet away from her was a wolf, bigger than anything she'd seen before. It growled at her, pulling its lips back to reveal rows of blackened gums and white fangs. Its yellow eyes pierced the dimly lit cave, and slowly it moved forward. Several wolves followed suit, and Sam could only back up until she had no where else to go. She was shaking; her teeth clenched tightly together. She needed a weapon and, as slow as she could, knelt down with her eyes glued to the pack quickly flanking her on all angles. Blindly she searched for a something, anything, to help fight them off for a little while. Her fingers touched something and she quickly gathered it into her hands and swung it threateningly at the wolf pack.

"Stay back you or I'll...I'll-" Samantha threatened, but paused when she felt something...furry.

"Arrrf," the object squeaked and Sam looked at the pup in her hands. It looked to her, red tongue sticking out as it gave her an innocent smile.

Samantha felt the corner of her eye twitch.

_Crap.._.

The head of the pack lunged forward.

"NO!" Sam screamed and closed her eyes, clenching the small pup in front of her as if it would somehow magically stop the attack.

But nothing came. No pain, no throat tearing teeth sank into her, but she did hear a loud _thud_. Sam cracked open one eye, confused and afraid.

The wolf that had pounced was now on the ground; its massive jaws were unable to close as a slender, dirty hand was jammed into its mouth keeping it pinned to the cold stone. Samantha opened both her eyes then; the other wolves made a collective whimper and they backed into the shadows, away from the offender who put down their Alpha almost effortlessly.

When the larger wolf finally settled down, her savior slowly removed her hand from the wolf's jaw and rose off the beast. It stared up at the woman, sneering at her, but quickly scrambled to its paws to make a quick retreat like the rest of its pack, almost afraid to stay anywhere near the other girl. Samantha let out the breath she had been holding in and slide down against the wall behind her. The wolf pup sat in her lap, tilting its head to the side as if to say 'what just happened'.

"Oh God, that took a few years off my life," Sam sighed. She started to pet the wolf pup absently and it nibbled on her finger playfully, "I suppose I have you to thank for saving me?"

When she looked up to see her savior, Samantha wish she hadn't.

The woman who saved her life was looming over her now, staring down hard at Samantha. The smaller woman swallowed thickly as her eyes met with another colder, more lifeless pair. The girl's hair was dirty and matted; it grew past her shoulders to the small of her back. The clothing she wore were covered with all manner of things: dirt, and tears and dried blood; Samantha didn't want to know who's blood that was, but it stained the woman's long pants and tank top in a thin layer. The girl's skin wasn't any better as it too was covered in thick layers of grime and cuts. Most of her exposed flesh was poorly wrapped in bandages; both her hands were wrapped in dirty bandages, as was her left shoulder. The outer layer of the gauze was turning a dark red; it was a fresh injury that received little attention.

How did someone like her get on this island? Samantha kept staring into those hardened eyes, hoping to find an answer, but she couldn't look for too long. Staring into those eyes made Samantha feel weak.

"T-thank you, for saving me," Samantha finally spoke, unsure if she could take the weight of the silence any more.

The wild looking girl did not say anything back; she seemed satisfied as she gave Samantha a once over and then turned around. That's when Samantha saw the dual pistols in the holsters attached to her belt, and the ax hanging loosely from her side. She wasn't wearing any shoes either and Samantha could see the small cuts and faded bruises around her ankles and under her feet.

The slightly taller girl knelt to a collection of sticks and took out a match from her pocket. She quickly started a fire then gestured for Samantha to move closer. The fire lit the cave just a little bit brighter and the wolves could be seen more clearly, but they were preoccupied with the carcass of a deer. Sickening, but at least they didn't care for Sam anymore. The last time Samantha went camping her father told her never to start a fire in a cave because the smoke would have no where to go, ultimately killing you if there was no ventilation. There was a small breeze coming from somewhere, so there must have been a way for the smoke to escape. Samantha took the wolf pup with her as she scooted close to the fire. The dark haired girl threw a slab of meat into the fire.

Samantha's stomach growled at the sight and she blushed in shame, "Sorry...I must be really hungry..."

Nothing.

_Maybe she doesn't speak English._ Samantha thought bitterly. She would have to try another tactic, so she went for Japanese and asked who the girl was.

Still nothing.

Samantha sighed and gave up trying to start a conversation, "Fine, we'll have it your way and just sit here like a couple of idiots-"

"You shouldn't be here."_  
_

Samantha looked at the girl, wide-eyed and confused. She could speak...and in English? Oh happy day-but wait, that would mean she was deliberately ignoring her the entire time. She sounded as if she had an accent, maybe it was British, but she was speaking Russian the first time Samantha heard her. She could talk, and that's all Sam really cared about.

Wait...what did she just say?

"What was that?"

"I said you shouldn't be here," the girl said looking to Samantha with a frown. She stabbed the meat with an arrow and took it out from the fire. She rested the arrow against a bed of rocks to keep the meat suspended over the fire so it could continue cooking.

Samantha frowned, "I didn't know Yamatai was off limits. People were just too afraid to explore here because of the disappearance of a few scientists a couple of decades ago ."

The girl was silent again, but Samantha was determined to continue talking.

"Hey, what are you even doing on this island anyways?" Sam questioned, "You just put that wolf down like it was nothing! I honestly thought it was going to tear your hand off or something. I can't believe you're that strong." When the girl didn't respond to that Samantha tried switched topics, "I guess that was you those guys caught in the net. Those men had it out for you and you-" Horror spread across her face, "Wait...You must have done something to that crazy man and those Russians didn't you! I smelled a lot of smoke earlier and heard screaming. What did you do? And those arrows..." Samantha's jaw dropped as she recalled her video diary, "Hey were you stalking me-"

Samantha snapped her mouth shut when the girl glared at her.

"Be quiet," The girl growled.

She sounded more vicious than any animal Samantha encountered.

Samantha stiffened at the harsh tone and opened her mouth to retort, but was quickly silenced when meat was shoved in front of her face, "Eat. I need to get you off this island as soon as possible."

What?

Sam looked dumbly at the meat presented to her, "Why?"

"Because food is essential," the girl stated. She was starting to think Samantha was dumber than she looked, "You'll need the energy."

She shook her head, "No I mean, why are you taking me off the island. What about my friends?"

"Not my problem," she replied coldly, "I have to get you out of here."

"Not without my friends!" Samantha protested.

She practically thrust the meat into Samantha's hands and stood up, "Eat, then we're leaving."

Samantha gave the girl a hard look, "You can't make me-"

Her words were cut off by a foot being shoved into her shoulder. The meat was dropped and the pup jumped off Samantha's lap and ran away just as her back hit the ground roughly. Biting her lip to keep from crying in pain, Samantha looked up to see the hollow barrel of a pistol.

The girl muttered to no one, "Can save myself the trouble and kill her right now. It'd be easy, but you wouldn't want me to huh?"

Samantha knew she wasn't talking to her, but also it didn't see like the woman was talking to anyone specifically. The girl's arm was slightly trembling; the gun was shaking as a result, but that her finger wasn't on the trigger. She wasn't going to shoot her? Or was she? A joke might defuse the tension prehaps, or get her killed, it didn't hurt to try.

"T-this isn't how you treat a lady in distress," Samantha sputtered out nervously.

The girl looked down at Sam for a moment and raised an eyebrow, "A lady...in..." A beat "...h-ha...hahahahaa!"

She was laughing now, not maniacal laughter, but it wasn't pleasant. It was an empty laugh that sent shivers down Sam's spine.

"Shit, you're hilarious," the brunette chuckled, wiping away tears, "You remind me of this guy who...well..." she pauses and her eye brows crease slightly as she stares at Samantha intensely for a moment before continuing, "Actually...I think I killed that guy a while back when I was looking for my journal. I dropped it and went to go find it...he had it so I killed him."

Samantha stared at the girl, mouth hanging open. She was now more confused than ever, "W-what?"

Sam was ignored as the girl spoke something in broken Japanese (it was just a continuation of her story), then Russian, then English; she didn't know which language to speak in it seemed, but she kept talking to herself. She didn't seem remotely interested in Samantha anymore and looked more concerned about something else. What that something was, Sam didn't want to know. Scratching the back of her head, the girl muttered something again in Russian and sighed heavily. She then turned her head to the wolves and snapped at them about something, while pointing at the ceiling. The Alpha snarled back in defiance and showed his fangs again, while the girl growled back. That was the breaking point for Sam. She was fine thinking the girl was a little nuts, going back and forth between languages like she didn't know which one to talk in, but watching her "speaking" wolf was enough. She got to her feet and grabbed the other girl's arm to get her attention.

"Can you stop being crazy for five minutes!" Samantha exclaimed.

"Don't you ever call me that!" The girl barked, pulling the trigger of her pistol. Sam cried out in surprise and curled into herself; the wolves scattered at the sudden bang. She was afraid the other girl was aiming wildly, but she had the gun pointed towards the roof of the cave, "I told you to eat!"

Samantha cried on the inside. _This_ _chick is crazier than that old man_.

"I heard something over this way!"

_Oh fuck._

It was the Russians.

"Look what you did!"

"What do you mean what I did!? You're the one waving the gun around and shooting it off like a psychopath!"

"We have to move now!"the girl growled and grabbed Samantha by her arm.

"W-wait, I need to-" Sam began but was silenced as gun fire was heard echoing in the cave. The heavy foot steps were drawing closer and closer, and the girl squeezed Samantha's arm hard, "Stop, you're hurting my arm!"

A man rounded the corner and she pulled the trigger, dropping the man on the spot. She released Samantha's arm and ran towards the dying man just as another one was coming around. She pulled her ax from its sheath and jabbed the pointed edge into his eye. Samantha watched in horror as the girl ripped the ax out; blood squirted from the man's empty eye socket and the sticky liquid landed on the brunette's shirt, but he didn't have time to scream in pain. Just as he was falling to his knees, the girl thrust a large rock against his temple. A sound _crack_ echoed throughout the cave and he fell back.

Samantha followed after the girl, trying to chock down the bile that threatened to escape her mouth when she saw the bloodshed. She turned a corner and ran straight into another man. He grabbed her shoulders and she screamed. Luckily the other woman wasn't far behind and she jumped into the air. She descended upon him and kicked him in the head. Samantha was released, but before the man could gather himself, the brunette grabbed him by the throat and smashed his head into the ground. She sat on his chest as he struggled beneath her. He was clawing at her arms, but she wasn't letting him go.

Sam flattened herself against the nearest wall, as far away from her as possible. She was smiling.

"Ah, I remember you..." she said, then spoke in Russian to the man, who spat at her.

Her eyes narrowed and she drew her other pistol. She pointed both guns between his eyes, and he continued to scream at her.

"This is for leaving me out in the middle of fuckin' nowhere."

She pulled the trigger. The man twitched for a moment before going slack. She stood up and wiped the fresh blood off her hands on his jacket before standing. She thrust her guns back into their holsters before turning to Sam. The girl looked horrified and ill. She could see it in the taller girl's eyes, when their eyes met for the briefest of moments; she was an uncaring savage who had no qualms about taking another life (three in this case and who knows how many more).

This is who she was to entrust her life to?

The girl said, "We should get going."

Samantha nodded absently, not really hearing while her mind was fixated on the dead bodies.

"Sam," the girl said just a bit sharper to catch her attention.

Samantha looked to the girl, "Y-you know my name?"

"Was trying to get your attention," she said plainly, "And your friends call you that and I didn't want to call you 'girl'."

"What terrible manners I must have," Sam mumbled sarcastically, "I never asked for yours."

And she didn't care to know it.

"Yeah well, I can't say I have manners either, but I don't want you calling me anything but my name." The brunette replied and scratched the back of her head. Sam inwardly cringed when she saw the same hand that was stained with blood get wiped casually in her hair, then the girl offered that same hand to her, "It's Lara by the way."

Sam stared openly at the hand offered to her. _This girl is out of her fucking mind. _She didn't know what to say, so she didn't say anything did not make any sign of taking it.

Lara looked down at her dirty hand and retracted it before wiping the remains of blood on her already stained shirt, "Let's go. Your base camp shouldn't be far from here. It's best we leave no to make it before nightfall."

Samantha nodded half heartedly and followed Lara obediently.

* * *

**Well there you have it: the fated meeting. If it feels like Lara was all over the place...that's because she was. In my defense, nothing was put in there for shits and giggles and what Lara does from now on will never be 'just because'. Also, I'm going to nip this in the bud now: no, she will not stay like this forever. You will see the Lara you fell in love with from the game, just much later. **

**Fifth Encounter: A horrible misunderstanding **


	5. Chapter 5

**Anonymous:** Don't ya know? Lara knows EVERYTHING hehe...but yeah they're totally not getting off the island on the Endurance trust me, you'll found out in about...whatever your reading speed is

So what's special about this chapter: 2 parts plot related, 1 part comic relief and 1 part filler also I'm not being geographically correct about this cause I don't care to go back and look through maps to see which was located were.

* * *

**Chapter 5: Accidents Happen**

It was probably somewhere between trying to scale down the side of a cliff and running across the broken remains of an airplane that Samantha realized that Lara was out of her fucking mind. From an objective point of view, Lara knew exactly what she was doing, knew how to do it and moved like Hell itself was chasing after, but from Sam's stand point she was taking risks...unnecessary risks. When they had reached the airplane that was leaning dangerously close to the edge of a waterfall, Lara had jumped on top of the tail to run across it only to be stopped by a gap between the plane's body. She didn't have any regard for her own safety from where Samantha was standing, but somehow she managed to bridge the two broken pieces of the plane together without trouble. Lara didn't look back to see if Sam was following her; Sam just did. No matter how crazy she seemed, Lara was the safest person to be next to.

The trek was done in absolute silence-minus Samantha's constant complaining about the weather and Lara's silence, and the situation she had somehow managed to land herself in. Lara didn't care, or didn't make an effort so show she was even listening. They were nowhere near close to their destination, Sam guessed, when Lara planted herself at the base of a tree and took out a beat up water container to take a quick drink.

"So we can finally rest?" Samantha whined as she followed Lara's example and sat down, "I think I'm starting to form blisters." She peeled her shoe and sock off her sweaty feet and examined the sole, "Raugh! I'm gonna need a pedicure after all this and a long shower. I haven't washed my hair in, like, a week. What do you think? I bet you could use a bath."

Lara cast a mildly miffed glare at Sam. It looked like she wanted to say something, but she wouldn't say it; the girl seemed dead set against having a conversation with Sam, but Sam kept trying. Sam couldn't help take mental notes about Lara, even when they were walking through the various parts of the jungle and caves. She wore a determined look and carried herself with purpose, Sam noted, and didn't look the type to mince words and sugar coat. She did single-handedly kill two armed individuals in front of Sam without emotion and who knows how many more met the same fate. Despite her cold demeanor, Samantha found herself attracted to the aura that the other girl had about her. Though silent as a shadow, and nimble on her feet everything Lara did spoke about her.

"We should probably keep moving. Maybe someone contacted Roth or he noticed we haven't checked in. Alex might have sent a few people on shore to look for us," Samantha said. She didn't want to stay in one place for too long; men were still after her last she checked and by the looks of Lara she also wanted to keep moving as well. After getting to her feet, Sam made quick strides over to Lara, only to have the slightly taller girl jump up and grab Sam by her shoulders, "Wha-!"

Lara backed Samantha into a tree, her hand quickly covering her mouth. Sam felt her face color at the sudden closeness, and tried to squirm her way out of Lara's grip, but the girl's hold was like iron. She held Samantha still, pinning her with a stoney glare before shifting her eyes to her right. Sam followed her line of sight and her eyes widened when she saw a group of men nearly 10 yards from them. Sam practically clung to Lara now after realizing the dangers. What if they were discovered? Did they hear her? Were they heading their way?

Lara pressed her body against Sam's, keeping her pinned to the tree and out of sight. The jungle's untamed wilderness provided excellent cover and Lara's dirt covered clothes and body made her blend perfectly with her surroundings. The two remained together until the men were out of sight and a few painful minutes after. When she felt it was safe enough, Lara slowly released her vice grip on Samantha and backed away just as slow.

"How did you know they were there? I didn't hear them?" Samantha released her breath.

Lara said, almost cruelly, "If you had stopped, you would have."

Sam's jaw dropped. She had just been told in one sentence that she talked too much and needed to shut up. She opened her mouth to protest, but instead a _KA-BOOM_ drowned out her words, "What the hell was that?!"

Samantha and Lara both looked to the sky and saw an ominous cloud of black rising high above the trees and Sam's face paled.

"Oh my...That's where our camp is!" She exclaimed, "We have to hurry!"

Lara agreed wordlessly, but instead of taking off immediately, Lara knelt down in front of Sam, "Get on."

Samantha started down at Lara, "...what?"

"Get on and hold onto me," Lara instructed, "Now!"

"But my shoe-" Sam began, but was cut off by Lara's glare. It seemed Lara was glaring at her a lot lately, so Sam quickly did as she was told, wrapping her arms around Lara's neck and her legs around her waist. Before she secured herself, Lara stood up and began running towards the campsite.

Samantha cried out as her face and unprotected skin was cut against the branches Lara passed. It was strange, clinging to someone who didn't think much of her, but Samantha could feel every muscle in Lara's shoulders and back tighten with power; it almost felt surreal that she was being carried-and at such a speed. Lara felt so skinny too; Sam could feel the bones of her ribs poking against her body and the ridges along her spinal cord, yet she had enough strength to carry her and for a distance. Samantha could feel the thick scars marring Lara's breast bone and shoulder; the bandages that were there did nothing to stop Samantha from feeling the hole that was into Lara's left shoulder.

Maybe she did it without thinking or she wished she understood what the other girl had went through, but Sam clenched a little tighter to Lara. Someone like her, so strong, didn't need to suffer such wounds.

* * *

When they arrived, Lara set Samantha in the thicket, giving the shorter girl a simple instruction of "stay put", while she climbed the nearest tree. The vessel that transported Samantha to Yamatai was in ruins. Flames engulfed whatever remains of the ship that stayed afloat; above the water's surface was the scattered bits and pieces of whatever was blown off. At the beach, the four males they spotted earlier were destroying whatever was on the shore; they even set fire to the tents.

Samantha covered her mouth with her hands to stifle any whimper as she witnessed her friend's ship ablaze in the middle of the ocean. A thousand things were racing through her head.

Lara jumped down from her position and landed beside Sam, "Stay low."

Quickly stringing an arrow to her bow, Lara crept closer to the men, who scattered themselves around the beach to pick at any remains left from their scavenge. Silently, Lara pulled the arrow back tighter before letting it fly just a foot away from one of them.

"What was that?"

"I dunno, lemme go check it out..."

Lara waited patiently with another arrow strung and just when the man was far enough she let go. The arrow flew true, striking the Russian in the back of his head.

He was dead before he hit the ground.

She put the bow around her neck and scaled the nearest tree to get a better view of the beach. All she simply had to do was repeat her last performance: watch, wait, then strike, repeat until all the men were dead. She just needed a better vantage point. Samantha didn't wait for the last body to fall before she was up on her feet and running towards the ocean.

"ROTH!" Sam shouted to the wreckage, "ALEX!"

"Goddammit!" Lara growled and jumped down from her perch. She grabbed Sam by the back of her shirt and dragged her down on the sand face down. She drew her pistol; her eyes scanned their surroundings in earnest, "Have you lost your fucking mind? There could be more of them out here!"

Sam lifted her head and spat out sand, "Didn't you kill them all?"

Lara stared down at the girl, "There is no such certainties here."

"Get off," Samantha snapped, trying to buck the taller woman off of her. She was getting tired of Lara's snippy attitude and over-bearing protectiveness. The Russians who were on the beach were dead, that enough should say they were safe for the time being, right?

When Lara didn't move, Sam tried harder.

"I said: GET OFF!"

_CRACK!_

Lara's head whipped to the side as the plank of wood cracked against the side of her skull. The force was enough to send her careening off Samantha and fall ungracefully to the sand in a heap. Blood trickled from the cut on the side of her head; the pistol had fallen from her grasp and laid beside her. Instinctively, Samantha went for the gun and pointed it -waved it around madly- at the person who attacked Lara.

"Whoa there, Sam, it's me," Alex said, dropping the wood and raising his hands high above his head, "Easy!"

Sam calmed down the moment she realized that is wasn't another crazy Russian, but Alex, "Oh...sorry I thought you were someone else."

Alex scoffed, "Well that's some thanks after I just saved you."

"Saved...me?" Sam repeated then looked to her side where Lara was laying motionless on the beach. Realization dawned on her and she scrambled over to the other girl, "Oh my god, you killed her! Why did you do that?!"

Alex, taken aback by Samantha's sudden anger quickly tried to defend himself, "B-b-but she was...attacking you. For God's sake she had you face down in the dirt with a gun! What was I supposed to do?"

"Come out of hiding when I called for you the first time, you jerk!" Samantha snapped, then turned her attention back to Lara, "She killed those guys and was going to get us off this crazy rock and you killed her!"

"How the hell was I supposed to know that?!" Alex shot back defensively.

"Oh God, Lara, speak to me, say something." Samantha begged, gently taking Lara's head into her hands to examine the wound. It wasn't deep, but it would need stitching and a heaping dose of neosporin.

The movements caused Lara to release a pain filled groan and she leaned further into Sam's touch, "M-Momma?"

"Great she's brain-dead!"

"At least she's not dead!"

Sam shouted at Alex, ignoring his comment, "Now how is she going to help us?!"

"Quit yellin' at me," Alex growled.

Sam picked up the nearest object-the gun that she was waving around-and threw it at Alex, "Well if you had made yourself known instead of sneaking up on her like that we wouldn't be having this problem!"

Alex quickly shielded himself from the projectile, "Sam! Cool it, I'm sorry!"

Sam was ready to throw something else, but a strong grip on her wrist stopped her. She looked down and met Lara's eyes. She didn't look mad, but she also didn't look to happy about getting caught off guard so easily. Sam didn't see it, but deep down Lara wanted to kill Alex, not with a gun, but with her bare hands and the only thing that would stop her was Samantha and the copious amount of complaining she would do if she succeeded.

"We don't have time for this," Lara muttered sourly and released Sam's wrist. She staggered to her feet and glared at Alex, who instinctively took a step back away from her.

"I-it was an accident!" Alex stuttered out as Lara walked over to him with murderous intent.

She growled at him and snatched her pistol off the ground, "Come near me again and I will end you."

It wasn't a threat; Samantha could hear it in her voice. If Alex knew what was good for him he'd heed Lara's words.

The taller girl stared at the wreckage of the ship and the ruins of the base camp in bitter silence, trying to formulate a solution. No doubt Sam would want Alex to tag along and the more they looked for a solution to get off the island, the more of Sam's people she'll want to rescue.

"Lara, I'm sorry for rushing out like that..." Samantha said. She had stood up and made her way to Lara's side, "What do we do now?"

"I'll look for a radio, or a working boat," Lara said, "You stay here and out of sight. Those four couldn't have sunk a ship like that by themselves."

Sam nodded, then looked to Lara's cut. The other girl didn't seem all that bothered by it, "Does it hurt?"

"No."

"You sure?"

Lara walked away, "Take this." She handed over the gun to Samantha, "Try not to get yourself killed."

"Are you sure you're okay to even walk?" Samantha asked.

"I'll be back."

Lara disappeared into the woods before Sam could protest; the Asian stared at the gun in her hand and clenched it nervously. She never liked guns and her hatred for them was only intensifying.

"I swear if she does this one more time I'll..." Samantha groaned, leaving the threat hanging.

Alex inched his way over to Sam and stood next to her with his arms folded across his chest, "Well...at least she's kinda hot-OW!"

Samantha sharply elbowed him in the rib.

* * *

**Blowing up the Endurance...w00t!**

**Sixth Encounter: Promises are made to be kept**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: The Promise**

Sam had taken to pacing up and down the beach, glancing nervously now and again at the spot Lara was last seen. She had relinquished the gun to Alex once she had realized she was still holding onto it; Sam had no intentions of using it in the first place and it seemed safer with Alex, who had been to the shooting range with Roth a couple of times making him more qualified to hold it. The tech man was content in shuffling through the remains of the camp's gear, looking for a radio or transmitter or even a new pair of glasses as one of his lens was cracked. He tried to avoid Sam as much as possible, feeling she was still sore about the news he had given her earlier that day...

_"They...they're dead?" Samantha questioned. _

_She felt like she was going to throw up._

_Alex didn't want to say it, but he had to, "They snuck on board and killed Grim, Smith, Jack, and Conner. Roth damn near threw me off the ship before sending a distress signal right before the Endurance was blown to kingdom come. He made it; I'm sure of it Sam."_

_Sam was nearly in tears, "Oh God, this is all my fault."_

_"No, no!" Alex quickly reassured her. He wrapped his arms around her to allow her to cry into his shirt. Alex tried to sooth the girl by rubbing her back, "It's okay, Sam. No one knew any of this was going to happen. Why those people blew up the ship is still remains to be seen..."_

_"That's my fault too!" Sam cried harder, "Everything is my fault!"_

_Alex simply held Sam tighter and tried not to ask how, "Don't worry we'll find another way off. Hopefully our distress signal got through and someone will come for us. If not we'll find our own way off. I promise."_

Sure, Alex sounded brave, but he was not at all confident with being able to find a way. This was his first time on a deserted-well not so much-island, which was crawling with psychotic cultists from what Samantha described. Adjusting the glasses on his face, Alex moved to another box that washed on shore and cracked it open. There was food.

"Sam, we got Cheetos!" Alex called to her, holding up a bag of the cheese doodles and a can, "And Spam!"

"Of course you would be excited about Spam," Sam chuckled and decided she was done pacing, but was not hungry. She had forgotten that she hadn't eaten anything since she was captured by the Brotherhood of Crazies.

Alex rummaged through the box, pulling out snacks and cans of soda and bottled water. There were a variety of canned food, but no can opener, so Alex threw them in a pile. There wasn't much left of anything however, and anything that wasn't sealed properly was waterlogged.

"What I wouldn't do for some chocolate," Samantha mumbled as she took a water Alex had offered to her.

Alex nodded in agreement, "When I get home the first thing I'm going to do is bathe in chocolate."

"I think I'd rather just have a hot shower." Sam laughed, "Although your idea does sound delicious."

Alex couldn't have agreed more. He looked towards the sun, not realizing it was so late,"Uh...hey Sam, when's your friend getting back anyways?"

"How should I know?"

"She's been gone a while is all. Maybe we should grab everything we can and leave." Alex said. He kicked the sand at his feet and stared at the broken remains of the Endurance, "We can go find the others ourselves."

Sam looked down att he water in her hands, "I don't want to sit around waiting forever, but Lara seems to know what she's doing. She's going to save us."

"Are you sure she's coming back, Samantha." Alex grumbled, "She didn't seem all that interested in saving my butt back there."

"She saved me more times than I can count in the past 24 hours! I don't know what's going on, but she does and maybe she can answer some questions: like why the hell did those guys decided to blew up our ship!" Samantha snapped back.

"Hey, why are you so quick to defend her. I just escaped off a boat that was blown sky-high and not once did you ask me if I was alright! I want to go find our friends and try to get off this blasted island and not sit around here waiting for some miracle that's not coming!" Alex shot back, "We can make it on our own if we're careful enough-"

Sam finally looked up to Alex; her eyes narrowed at the man, "Sure Alex let's go back into the forest where it's crawling with hundreds of men with guns and whatever else that can kill us. I love the idea of walking into my death."

Alex met Samantha's eyes and they tried to stare each other down, but eventually Alex finally looked away and allowed himself to collapse on the beach with exhaustion.

"Can you blame me for being worried about everyone?"

Samantha shook her head, "No, I can't, but I won't abandon the one chance we have of getting off Yamatai."

"You think she will be back?"

Samantha looked back to the spot where Lara was last seen, "I don't know."

* * *

Night fell faster than Sam had anticipated and it was cold. Alex managed to get a fire started, and they huddled together to keep as warm as possible. Whitman was poking at the fire miserably, talking about what he had been through in order to find his way back to the Endurance. Finding the ship that brought them to Yamatai scattered along the sea was more than a blow to him. He was devastated. Sam tried to grill him upon his arrival about where the others were, but Whitman didn't want to be bothered trying to recall where he had last seen them, so instead of trying to convince him otherwise she bundled with Alex, casting a glare at James every so often.

Alex had done will to cover the dead bodies before anyone got too comfortable so the bodies didn't have to be seen anymore, and the seagulls were pecking at them which was disturbing for everyone (i.e. Sam and James) to watch. Now that the task was complete and he had a moment to relax, Alex looked to where Sam was catching her sneaking a peek at the spot where Lara was.

She seemed fidgety most of the time and looked ready to bound off in that direction. He didn't understand why she had put so much faith in that girl. She didn't act civilized; she did what she wanted and just left Sam and him there without saying where she was going. That girl had looked at him as if he was a nuisance the minute she set eyes on him. He admitted that he was a bit at fault for smacking her in the head, but he wasn't going to apologize. He was just trying to protect his friend from what seemed like a dangerous situation. That was all.

A rustling in the bushes startled him and he quickly pointed the gun towards the forest. His jerky movements jolted Sam from her stupor, "Who's there! Show yourself or I'll shoot!"

Whitman had grabbed a piece of plank wood and had it posed for throwing if he had to, "We have weapons-"

"Put that down before you hurt yourself," Lara replied sourly as she came into view. Whitman almost dropped the wood when he saw her. Sam and Alex had told him about her, but he didn't suspect she'd look as bad as they described. He would have stared at her more, if it was not for the fact she wasn't alone. She was carrying someone on her back as she trekked towards the fire pit. Samantha was on her feet immediately and rushed over to Lara's side, "I take it he's with you?"

Alex bolted to his feet, "Roth! Oh thank God you found him!"

Lara wasn't gentle in setting the unconscious man down next to the fire. She let his weight drop out of her arms as fast as she could before rolling her shoulder to release the kinks that had formed from carrying him for hours. She then removed a small pack from her side and tossed it to Whitman, who caught it, "His leg was chewed up pretty bad, nothing serious but he did a poor job patching himself up."

"Are you okay?" Samantha asked, noticing the large gash on Lara's forearm. She reached for it, but Lara took a tactful step backwards and eyed Sam under half-lidded eyes, silently daring the shorter girl to come closer. Samantha chose to be ignorant of the glare and continued, "You need to get that cleaned too."

"I didn't find much, just a broken boat." Lara reported, blatantly ignoring Samantha. She picked up her gun Alex had tossed aside carelessly when he saw Roth. She stared down at it for a moment before glaring at Sam from the corner of her eye, "I have to find some supplies."

She turned away and was ready to disappear back into the brush when Samantha caught her wrist.

"Hold on!" Sam said, "You can't go back out there. We found some food and fresh water, plenty to go around. Stay and rest, you look exhausted."

Lara yanked her arm out of Samantha's grasp, then retreated back into the forest without another word. There was a tense silence after Lara left; Whitman pushed his glasses on his face, clearing his throat rather loudly before speaking.

"She's a real peach..." he said.

"Not now Whitman," Samantha retorted with a roll of her eyes. She brushed past him, taking the medical pack from his hands and quickly cut his pants leg open to get a better look at the injury.

Alex sighed as he tried to make a makeshift pillow for Roth to rest his head on, "I don't think now is the time, guys."

"Yes, well, our so called guide just ran off to do whatever and we're stuck here without a clue. If she keeps leaving us like this we're better off without her."

The older man grabbed a soda from the small pile of drinks and knelt down next to Sam. He rummaged through the medical pack to hand Samantha anything that looked useful.

"Well we can't put a leash on her and make her stay. She's a human not a dog," Samantha said. She was ready to clock Whitman in the jaw now, but Sam remained calm, because Roth was there and she needed to focus on him, "Can you hand me a water, Alex? I have to clean this wound."

Alex tossed it to Sam.

James returned to the fire and his earlier task of poking at it, "I didn't say she was a dog."

"Then what are you trying to say?" Alex asked.

"Well...from what Sam told us, the wolves she met seemed to look up to Lara, or fear her. Maybe she has a pack mentality and sees all of us as inferior beings. She's stronger than us, smarter or so she believes, and if we step out of line she might kick us down."

"Since when did you suddenly become the expert on wolves?" Sam grumbled as she poured a healthy amount of water over Roth's leg.

James puffed his chest out a little with pride, "I did my research before coming on this little trip. As I was saying, Lara, if that is really her name, is bothered by us and I for one will not sit here and let her treat us like we're part of her pack."

Sam sighed, "I don't need this..."

"I'm just saying that if she really wanted to help us she can-"

"I can what?" Lara asked. The three companions looked up to see Lara standing over them with a rabbit strung on her bow. An arrow was jetting from it's head, but it was still twitching.

Alex bit his tongue to stifle a laugh as James fumbled over his words to try to cover up what he had said. Sam had no such self control and openly giggled as she applied a salve to Roth's wound then wrapped it with gauze. Lara didn't know what was funny, but from where Sam was sitting, it looked like Lara was ready to shove her fist into the older man's mouth if he didn't shut up.

"It appears I'm not wanted here. I'll go." Lara began, but Samantha had jumped to her feet.

"Oh no you don't! No more wandering off! It's late and you should be taking care of that cut and sleeping!" Samantha protested, "You do know what sleep is don't you or did this island give you magical powers that allows you to stay awake for days? Cause I sure as hell would like that because I'm tired and if I'm tired you must be too especially after what you've done."

Lara scowled deeply, and had to bite her cheek to keep from snapping at Sam.

"Haha, when Sam gets like this it's better to just listen to her." Alex offered, "She'll keep talking until she gets her way."

He quickly looked away when Lara narrowed her eyes at him.

"I'm just going to sit somewhere high and look out," Lara finally said before walking four feet away from the camp, to the highest point nearby-which was nothing more than a small, poorly constructed shelter on top of a hill, and looked down at the four crewmates. She gave them a little wave before disappearing behind to a lower level of the rock formation.

"Now I think she's being an ass on purpose," Samantha grumbled once Lara was out of sight.

"I don't think she knows any better." Alex chuckled.

"I'm going to go talk some sense into her," Sam said and grabbed the remaining medical supplies and a bottle of water, then quickly followed Lara to her spot.

Alex shook his head as he watched Samantha climb after the other girl, "She's a real spitfire that one, huh James?"

James nodded in agreement, "I say still say we can't trust her. Did you see that look in her eyes? If Samantha wasn't here do you think she wouldn't hesitate to kill us?"

"Well, Sam did say Lara didn't want to go looking for us," Alex started.

"See, that's what I'm saying-"

"But she did bring Roth back to us." Alex concluded, "Which is good enough for me. To be honest, I'm kinda afraid of her."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Like you said she got that look in her eyes that says 'I'll kill you if you step a toe out of line' and it scares me to think of what might happen if we push her too far. We don't know this girl's limits, for all we know she could be planning on shooting us all in the back. But she is the only chance we got. I'll take my chances with her."

James stole a glance over to where Lara was, only to find that Samantha was standing over the other girl and looked mad. Adjusting his glasses on his face, James went back to poking at the fire to keep his mind busy. Meeting that girl certainly wasn't part of his plan, but he'll have to make due.

* * *

"Watcha doing?" Samantha asked as she approached Lara, but immediately looked ill when she was what the other girl was doing, "Gross..."

Lara was quiet as she skinned the fur off rabbit she had caught. She set the fur aside and sliced the meat from the bones with deadly precision using the ax she had. There was a small cloth besides Lara and she placed each strip of meat on top of it until there was a little pile before she tied the ends of the cloth together to seal the meat inside. The rabbit was nothing more than muscle and bones by the time Lara was done with it, but what she did afterwards was probably what made Sam throw up a little in her mouth.

Lara broke off a bone from the ribcage and stuck it in her mouth, making a sound that Sam could only guess meant she was sucking out the marrow of the bone because in less than a minute Lara spat the bone out and repeated the same action twice more.

Samantha groaned as she flopped down beside her, "I was coming up here to thank you for bringing Roth back, but do you have to do that while I'm here?"

"You're welcome to go back down to your friends," Lara stated, "No one told you to follow me."

"True..." Sam sighed and brought her legs up so that she could rest her chin on her knees, "I came here to talk to you. I may have been a tiny bit (Lara rolled her eyes) naggy, but you're hurt and you haven't treated _any_ of your wounds once since I've been with you and I'm concerned-"

"I'm fine, really." Lara said, cutting Sam off harshly, "Why you don't believe me is beyond me."

"Maybe it's the fact I can see muscle that doesn't convince me you're fine," Sam grimaced when she dared to sneak another glance at the wound on Lara's arm, "You should really get that checked out."

"I said I'm-"

"No you're not! You're not fine!" Samantha exclaims and grabs Lara's injured arm before Lara had time to move away. The dirt covered girl tried to jerk her arm back, but it wasn't whole heartedly. "Look at this. It could get infected and who knows what might happen. You could catch a fever...or die." Carefully, Samantha poured the drinking water over the cut, surprised Lara was immediately still during the process and applied a generous amount of salve to it, and then bandaged the injury with two layers, "There, see? Was that so hard?" Samantha asked as she tied the ends of the bandages tightly, "It only took six minutes tops."

Lara eyed her bandaged arm, and then at Sam who looked proud of herself, "You really didn't have to do that."

"And you don't need to help me and yet here you are." Samantha countered.

Sucking in a deep breath, Lara leaned back, "Now go away, if that's all you wanted."

Sam frowned, "Why do you talk to me like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like you're talking to a kid. I'm not a child, so stop patronizing me."

Lara picked at a bone beside her, but didn't respond.

Sam felt the veins in her head throb, "So we're back to ignoring me huh-"

Lara sighed heavily and set the rabbit's remains aside before turning her full attention to Sam, "Stop acting like a child, and I'll stop treating you like one."

Sam felt angry at those words, and it was only fair she snap back. Lara may have had the mannerism of a wolf, but that didn't excuse her for treating Sam like she was the bad guy, "You have no right to speak to me that way. The only reason why I'm here is because you want to get me off this island because for some reason those psychos think I'll help them bring their Sun Queen back and you apparently don't want them to do that. So maybe instead of treating me and my friends like we're a burden you better remember _you're_ the one who took on this task!"

Lara stared up at Sam, who had, somewhere in the middle of her rant, stood up to tower over her. She was red in the face and close to tears, but Sam held them back. If Lara had a pack mentality, then tears would just be a sign of weakness to her and they would be right back where they started.

"You know...you kinda look like her." Lara said as she rubbed her hands in the sand absently.

Sam gave her a puzzled look; that was unexpected.

"Like who exactly?"

"You look like her when you're angry," Lara continued. Her face was void of any readable emotion, "I saw her angry a few times. The first was when our boat crashed on the island. You both kinda scrunch your nose and when your eyebrows crease at the middle, but that just makes you both look less angry than you seem. You both hate it when people pick on you, so it's fun seeing you react over little things. I don't mean to treat you like a child, it's just you don't let me see you any other way."

Sam brought her hands to her temples and slowly tried to sooth away the headache, "I really wish you would make sense sometimes."

"Yeah well, you can't always have it your way, then life wouldn't be worth living." Lara stood up and dusted her hands together. She nodded her head a little and gathered up the rabbit she had decapitated, "Well it's the truth. Sure we all die in the end, but it's not the destination, it's the journey that everyone looks forward to even if they don't believe it themselves. You taught me that you know. Anyways, I got you a rabbit, but I'll bring it now. No sense in waiting. Sam will be safe till I get back."

At the call of her name, Sam, who had tuned Lara out, looked to the taller girl. She was posed to jump off the cliff, "Hey, where are you going now? Your wounds-"

"I'll be back in the afternoon and be as good as new," Lara said and she smiled at Sam. Sam marveled at how brightly her eyes shone for a moment. She had never anything beyond a scowl and glare when Lara looked at her, but now...

Sam shook her head a little, "You will be back right?"

"I'll always come back I promise."

And then she was gone, leaving Sam alone and confused once more.

* * *

**Seventh Encounter: We found what was lost**


	7. Chapter 7

**Warning: some strong language, poorly translated Russian, and abuse of line breaks**

Holy shit guys, over 100 alerts, nearly 70 reviews while I was away...yes** Avarenda **Lara is getting a bath...eventually.

* * *

**Chapter 7: Trust, Where art thou**

Samantha couldn't wait. She needed to find Reyes and Johan and get off Yamatai before something else bad happened-not to say that the worse had happened yet, but who knows what awaited them the longer they stayed on the island. When Lara had left that night, the group collectively agreed that it was best to leave, having no more patience for Lara and her disappearing acts. It had taken the better part of the night to build a makeshift cot to move Roth on. He was still out cold, was developing a fever, was shaking a little now and again, and Sam nearly broke Jame's nose for trying to wake him up to get him to walk on his own. Alex made use of his time by scavenging for medical supplies, even if it was a fruitless effort, so instead he packed away whatever food was left into a backpack that washed on shore.

"Are you sure we shouldn't leave some for Lara?" Sam asked as Alex packed away the water.

"She lived this long without our help, she'll manage," Alex replied and flung the pack on his shoulder, "Let's go."

Samantha and James nodded and each one grabbed a rope that was tied to either side of the cot that cradled Roth. They migrated from the shores, back into the jungle without looking back. Somewhere, deep down in Samantha, she knew that they should have stayed put, but her patience, like the others', was running out.

* * *

It was mid-afternoon by the time Lara returned to the beach, a little less clean than she was before (Himeko tried to get her to bathe, but Lara refused), but the wound on her shoulder, forearm and head were gone and only a sliver of a scar remained giving away that an injury was there. She seemed refreshed too, so full of energy she just wanted to run off with her pack, but priorities came first which meant getting Sam home. After a heated very one sided discussion with her Queen, Lara had come back a little later than she had intended: a deer was ripe for the killing and she would not pass up an opportunity to give fresh meat to her family.

Or Sam and her friends.

So she went hunting. Taking back spoils for both her animal companions and Sam's.

She had decided on her way back that they could be useful...somehow...and if the two males could handle the older one-Roth if she recalled his name correctly- then they were free to come along. Lara knew that ship was never going to take Sam home, the Brotherhood never let a ship simply leave the island. She wished, however, that she had stopped them herself before Mathias and his brothers did. They were dead set on keeping Yamatai a well-kept secret until their plans came to fruition, but Lara wasn't going to let that happen. Oh no, she was going to kill Mathias if it was the last thing she could do.

But now, standing at the unlit fire pit, Lara wanted to kill Sam.

They were gone.

Just gone.

Now she was angry.

She had promised Sam she would return; she always kept her promises and it was unfair that the other girl didn't trust her enough to do what she asked. With a primal scream, Lara slammed her foot into a wooden crate, splintering the frail wood.

"Goddammit, fucking god fucking dammit!" Lara shouted angrily, crushing whatever was under her foot. Pain shot from the bottom of her foot up her leg and she growled, "ругаться!" She had stepped on a glass bottle and without anything to protect her feet she had lodged a thick shard into her foot. Hissing in pain, Lara limped over to the water and sat down, dipping her injured foot into the water to cleanse the wound before ripping the shard out. Salt water and injuries don't mix, Lara knew that, but she couldn't limp around the island searching for Sam.

That would be stupid.

Ripping a piece of her shirt, Lara wrapped her foot to stop the bleeding. She quickly returned to the long-deserted fire and dropped to her knees.

_Making me feel like this...despicable..._ Lara thought as she hovered her face over where Samantha was sitting often. She sniffed the area a few times, taking in the sweet aroma of fruit and spice. A growl emitted from the back of her throat: it was one of the males she smelled as well and it was sickening.

If she was going to find them, she was going to need a little help from the Betas.

Straightening herself, Lara rubbed her nose and quietly slipped back into the forest without a word.

It wasn't long before her walk landed her back at her den. There wasn't a creature stirring, but she knew they were there. They would be out as soon as the sun set, but she didn't have time to waste. Lara needed them to help her track Sam down, maybe if that stupid girl didn't go far enough finding her would take less than a few hours. The island wasn't that big; it only took Lara over half a year to map out every nook and cranny and without her, Sam and her band of merry morons would get lost.

Or stumble into Mathias's arms.

_Find Sam, hope she isn't with Mathias, kill her when I see her._ Lara growled as she walked into the den. She knew she couldn't kill Sam, but in her mind she could. Her usual defenses slowly came down as she crouched to move further inside. The wolves were no longer a threat to her, except for the ex-Alpha. He seemed to take every opportunity to attack her to reclaim his spot as top dog. The others filed in line without hesitation when she beat the Alpha into the ground with her bare hands, but he was the most stubborn of all.

She remembered the first night she encountered him. He chewed up her leg and left her cowering under a bed of rocks for protection against his sharp claws and fangs. She had been afraid of him and his pack for months after that. Lara recalled how jumpy she was whenever she heard a twig break or the bushes rustle, only to feel foolish after when she discovered it was only a buck or rabbit.

It didn't seem that long ago when she put his face in the dirt and took out his left eye; it was the greatest moment of Lara's life.

Once deeper in the den, her family was there to greet her. Lara could not hold back the smile that split her face as her brothers and sisters gathered around her begging for whatever scrapes they thought she had. She smelled like a rotting corpse but that didn't mean she had one with her. She pet one the younger pups before retreating to a pocket of space in the den: her personal sleeping nest. Scattered on the ground of the small, enclosed space were boxes of ammo, arrows, bones and pieces of clothing that were filled with bullet holes and stained with god knows what. Lara knelt to a small box of pistol magazines and quickly replaced the ones she was carrying, then stuffed a few in her back pocket. She repeated the same action with the shotgun ammunition and her rifle.

Her eyes caught a weather torn book in the corner and she quickly snatched it up and wrapped it in a sheet of plastic before sticking that in one of her belt loops.

"You're being irrational," Lara heard one of the wolves say from her left as it joined her in her little hiding hole, "Just let them die, if Mathias gets a hold of that girl it's her own damned fault for leaving right?"

"That's not fair!" the pup that Sam had been playing with just days ago came to defend, "They don't even know what's going on! You can't condemn people for innocence."

"Who cares if they didn't know what they were getting into. You made a promise to Sam, she turned around and broke whatever trust you put in her. You gave her your gun, you never part from either of them, and look what she did. She handed it over to a _man._ You're a fool to think they would just cooperate with you, let alone trust you."

"But they're the first normal people you're seen in years besides those scientists and Sam was annoying, but she still trusted you with her life. She just doesn't know what's going on with you and if you explained it maybe she could-"

"SILENCE!" The older wolf snarled, leaping at the pup and pinning it beneath it's massive paws. The pup whimpered in pain, but was silenced as the bigger wolf howled at it, "You're just as stupid as Lara, if you think that girl trusted her! What do you think will happen when Lara catches up to them huh? You think everything will just be forgiven and they can go back to holding each other's hand and go skipping off this island with the sun shining off their asses? No! The damage has already been done. The little trust they had is gone!"

"But things can change!"

The older wolf applied enough pressure to the pup's body to silence it, "You know nothing. There were people before Sam and the scientists, who have broken the trust Lara put in them. They turned their back on her, left her to fend for herself among ravenous wolves who would have sooner have her dead than take care of her. How could anyone do that to a little girl anyways? Why would the people she loved so much break their promises to her and leave her!? HOW COULD THEY DO THAT TO ME OF ALL PEOPLE!"

"SHUT UP!" Lara exclaimed and threw a bottle at the older wolf. The bottle shattered across its head, pieces lodged into it's eyes and it flew off the pup in that instant howling in pain, "SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!"

She was crying now. Lara tried wiped the tears away, but the tears were falling faster than she could wipe. She leaned against the wall behind her and curled into herself, allowing herself that moment of weakness because there was nothing else she could do. The wolf pup whimpered sympathetically and limped over to Lara. The older wolf had crushed one of its front legs, but, even though it was painful, it still managed to hobble over to Lara and plant itself at her feet and then pawed at her leg with it's good paw. Lara used her arm to rub her eyes so she could see the pup more clearly.

"They did love you, Lara." It said softly as Lara lifted it into her lap. It reached up and placed both of its tiny paws on her chest so that he could support himself on his hind legs to look up at her, "Deep down I know you believe that too and you believe that Sam just didn't know any better. They just don't know, so please don't be angry with her...please?"

Lara sucked in a breath and used the palm of her hands to wipe away her tears, "I'll try not to be."

The pup seemed to smile at this, "Good." he leaned up and licked her cheek, "Don't forget you promised to protect her, and that's not going to happen if Mathias gets Sam."

"That's one of the reasons why I came back," Lara drew in a breath, "I need a little help..."

* * *

"Oh God my legs." Alex groaned as he found himself leaning against a tree for support; sweat covered his face and dampened the back of his neck, "No more Sam, I can't keep this up."

Sam couldn't argue. Her feet felt they had blisters and her ankles were probably swollen, but she couldn't give up, "We need to find Reyes and Johan and until then we can't stop."

James rubbed his eyes, "Not much good we can do them if we're all tired."

Roth nodded in agreement. He had woken up a little over an hour ago and, even if he was still limping quite a bit and using James for support, Roth knew nothing good would come of being tired.

"Sam, I know you want to find the others, but we can't do that unless we get some rest. It's too late to be searching and who knows what's lurking in these forests."

"How about crazy and more crazy?" Alex offered jokingly, but received a slap in the back of his head, "Ow! What was that for?!"

Roth rubbed the back of his neck as he sat down on a log, "There's nothing we can do but go back. If we stay out here for too long, who knows what might find us and we are in no condition to fight back."

One measly gun was the same as bringing a pen to a sword fight, unless it was a pen gun but that was an entirely different matter.

"We go back then?" James questioned. He was irritated and was ready for a fight, Sam saw it in his posture, "Back to the beach huh? Where we're sitting ducks. I don't think so-"

"But Lara said there was a boat there!" Sam argued back, "If we find Reyes and Johan we can go back and get it fixed and get off this bloody rock!"

"And what if we can't find them?" James asked.

"We fix it ourselves."

"And if we can't?" Alex said tiredly.

Sam had to think for a moment before she replied, "We find Lara."

Roth stared at Sam, "Sam, I heard some things in these jungles when we were separated. I do not mean to sound ungrateful because she saved my life and yours, but can we honestly trust this girl? Can you trust her?"

"I don't know Roth, but it's better than stumbling around in the dark. God why did I even fucking listen to you Whitman!" Sam growled, "We should have stayed put!"

"Well we're not going back!" James shouted.

Alex flinched, "Hey man, keep it down-"

"Yes we are!" Sam snapped back, "If you don't want to that's fine! Go find somewhere to die for all I care-"

James raised the gun into the air and pulled the trigger, silencing any words Sam was about to say, "I am lead doctor of this expedition, Samantha. You will do as I say."

Roth rubbed his eyes, "Are you trying to draw attention to us, Dr. Whitman?"

_"_Who gave you the blasted gun in the first place," Sam sneered. She thought Roth had it, but it appeared James was a thief.

"Well if Sam wants to see her precious savage, I guess we have no choice. Maybe she'll hear it and come running to save Sam." James bit out.

Sam ground her teeth together. She was clenching her fists so hard her knuckles had started to turn white, "Now listen here you arrogant, son of a bi-"

Rustling in the trees alarmed everyone, followed by the growing number of voices that penetrated the trees. Sam's face paled when she recognized one of the voices: Boris. Alex grabbed Roth and carried-dragged- the older man into the safety of the forest, cursing Whitman for shooting so carelessly. Without thinking, Sam turned her back to the group and ran towards the direction of the beach where she hoped to find Lara waiting.

* * *

ругаться...Lara laughed nervously when six out of the ten wolves, who were old enough to hunt, scattered to the four main points of the island to find any trail of Sam.

One of the betas, a wolf Lara had dubbed Smiggle, had stayed by her side as insurance. Lara didn't trust her nose-being human and whatnot-and decided having an extra set of eyes and ears would help the search go much quicker. How far they had gone was still unknown, but Lara knew there was some ground to cover if she was going to find them in time. _  
_

_Maybe Himeko would know._ Lara thought absently as she scaled a nearby tree. _She bloody knows everything, knowitall..._

When Lara managed to make it to the top of the tree, to get a better view of her surroundings, Smiggle whimpered from down below and paws at the tree, quietly calling out to Lara. She groaned. She was going to now have to climb back down to see what the problem was that Smiggle was getting all worked up over. Even if going down wasn't that hard, Lara hated to waste time.

She dropped to the ground, landing on her hands and knees before righting herself. Smiggle practically trotted through the bushes, forcing Lara to follow after him, now curious.

When she emerged from the other side, Lara frowned. A woman, dark skinned, was leaning against the side of a tree trunk. Her arm was in a makeshift sling, probably broken in a few places. Lara knew the woman was with Sam, Reyes was her name if Lara recalled correctly. There was another person besides Reys, a big fella Lara knew to be Johan. Another one of Sam's comrades.

_Just my luck..._Sighing, Lara looked to Smiggle.

"Take her back to the beach, hide her." was the given orders as Lara placed Reyes gently and quickly over the wolf's back, "Stay out of sight."

The wolf nodded and bound off with Reyes, none the wiser, slumped against its back. Lara looked to the man then.

She drew her ax.

A sneer marked her face as she loomed over him, gripping the weapon tightly in her hands.

_He won't be missed..._

BANG!

The gunfire startled Lara and she disappeared into the jungle before Johan stirred. The shot wasn't that far away, but if she heard it, who else could have. Sam could be at the end of that shot. She moved with renewed purpose: find Sam and kill whoever was shooting at her.

* * *

_I shouldn't have left Lara's side._That was the only thought that ran through the young woman's mind as the men cut off any escape routes; with a 50 foot drop behind her there was nowhere for her to go except the afterlife, and Sam had no intentions of going there yet. She was without her friends, without weapons and without any plan. Sam cursed James for convincing her to leave and damn herself for listening to him in the first place.

"Been searching all over for yeh girly," one man hissed; his accent surprisingly not Russian. Was he American? Sam felt her eyebrows knot as she thought Russians were the only people on Yamatai, but lo and behold they weren't, "You gonna come quietly or are we gonna have to do this the hard way?"

"I'd rather not go with you at all…" Sam bit out between clenched teeth as she inched further away from them. The cultists were moving in. She didn't want to die either, but anything was better than getting dragged off to God knows where.

"Wasn't given you a choice!" he exclaimed and he made three quick strides towards Sam, his hand outstretched, "Now come 'er!"

"No!" Sam screamed and took a step back. Any further and she'd fall straight down into rushing water where she would be torn to shreds by the rocks waiting below.

"Quit struggling!"

A man snorted from the crowed, "Hurry up Will, we can't got all-AUGH!"

The rest of his sentence died in his throat as an arrow jetted from his neck, silencing him for good. His blood sprayed across his comrades' shoes as he fell to his knees, face frozen in shock, before he fell completely to his side lifeless.

"Goddamn it how'd she find us!?" another man shouted angrily, seizing his fallen comrades guns while madly searching the fairly open area with his eyes to find any sign of life other than their own.

Sam couldn't believe it either. Lara had located her quicker than she expected and at that moment realized there was no sense in trying to figure out how. It was Lara after all, unpredictably crazy Lara. The five remaining males, including the one who had approached Sam, moved into a semi-circle around Sam, guns pointed every which way. She could see the nervousness on their faces and their hands shook noticeably. Were they afraid of Lara? Oh they better be afraid.

A rustle came from a tree nearly 10 feet away.

The men opened fire without a second thought. Crows flew away, cawing spitefully at the offenders and disappeared into the skies.

"Show yourself you bitch!"

"Shit, just grab the girl and let's get out of here!"

"Alright!"

The man turned his back to lunge at Sam, who for a moment thought she would be forgotten, but instead of grabbing her arm he was met with an arrow that nearly missed his fingers. Instead the projectile landed in the middle of the ground between him and Sam.

Will glared at the arrow at the ground and then at Sam, "Must have been a pretty good fuck, to have that lunatic protecting your ass like this."

Sam looked visibly ill. Did he really imply she slept with Lara? Oh that must have been some joke, a ploy to unnerve her and make her lash out at him in anger…making her leap right into his arms like an idiot. No, she wasn't going to fall for that. Sam was going to stay where she was.

"Spread out! Find her and shoot her dead!" came the command and they scattered in every direction.

Will sighed once the others started to move away; his earlier demeanor swiftly changing as the rest of the men moved further and further away and out of possible ear shot.

"I suggest you jump," he said as he drew his pistol, but didn't point it at her.

Sam grew wide eyed, "W-wha-"

"There's a ledge about eight feet down, if you can reach that you can climb the rest of the way down. There's a cave at the bottom, near the waterfall. Hide there till we leave." Will explained in a hushed voice.

"Why are you telling me all this?" Sam asked with a scowl, "If you think I'm stupid enough to just believe you you're out of your mind."

Will shook his head and took a step towards Sam, "Just listen alright, for a second please-"

"Will, look out!" someone shouted from behind him and he turned his head to see where.

His eyes fell onto the barrel of a shotgun and before he had time to see who was holding it, a spray of bullets littered his body and his body dropped to the ground. Lara stood over him, eyes cold and unforgiving. Without missing a beat, she turned, shotgun still brandished, and she open fire on the oncoming gang before they had a chance to shoot her first. They dropped like flies one after the other. A fire bottle bomb (Sam decided to name them) came whistling through the air and Lara caught it mid-air and threw it back. The bottle exploded, sending shards of broken glass scattering through the air and shredding whoever was in close proximity of the explosion.

Lara was running on auto-pilot now. All she saw was danger and her reaction was to fight. All senses shut off and what remained was the instinct to keep herself alive. Somewhere in the back of her mind she remembered that Sam was behind her. Lara knew if the remaining men fired there was a chance Sam would get hit and she would sooner be shot dead then let any harm come to her.

"No where to run girly...give up now or die..." someone warned and Lara spat something in Russian to him spitefully.

Sam flinched at the tone was was given, "Lara, please there's nothing we can do-"

Sam could practically see the smile on Lara's face even though her back was turned to her. She spoke in perfect Japanese, "_Do you trust me?"_

Fora moment Sam didn't seem to process these words, but when her brain finally caught up with her, she steeled herself and closed her eyes, "Yeah, I do."

Lara broke out into a mad grin, "Good...NOW!"

Upon her outcry, collective snarl grew furious and in a matter of seconds the grounds were overrun by wolves. The men screamed in a mix of surprise and fear, realizing they had been ambushed, and they started shooting at the animals; their lives depended on it.

Lara quickly turned around and grabbed Sam's arm, giving it an unforgiving squeeze, "You don't seem to understand the situation you're in so let me rectify that."

Behind her a wolf tore a man's throat open before moving to the next one in a frenzy.

_She's going to give me a lecture now of all times?_ Sam thought as she tried to block out the screams of agony, "L-look can we talk about this when we're safe-"

"You are safe!" Lara exclaimed, making Sam flinch away. Lara was clearly angry and hurt, "You were always safe when you were with me and you bloody took off first chance you got! Mind telling me what the hell that was all about?"

"You kept leaving us alone!" Sam snapped back, "How were we supposed to trust you when you kept going back into the jungle! You could have died without us knowing or was planning to bring those guys to where we were-"

"I would never! Himeko told me I had to protect you and I'm trying to, but you're making it _very_ difficult."

A man stumbled past the two girls and Lara gently pulled Sam into her arms, side stepping the poor fellow as he fell over the cliff.

"Only because you're not making it easy!" Sam growled into Lara's shoulder bitterly.

"That is rich coming from you. After everything I've done for you, you went and-SHUT UP!" Lara shouted at a man, who did not want to breathe his final breath. If Sam blinked she would have missed Lara silencing him for good with a bullet between his eyes, "I'm trying to have a conversation here!"

Sam would have facepalmed if Lara wasn't holding her so close, "Why are we even discussing this here?!"

"Hmm, you know, I don't quite know myself." Lara muttered, but it seemed like she was telling herself that more to herself than to Sam.

Sam was about to tell Lara to go jump off a cliff, when she felt Lara lurched forward. It played in slow motion in Sam's mind as Lara went limp, her weight, now dead and unsupported, caused Sam to stumble backwards. Sam eyes grew wide when she tried to find her footing only to catch nothing but air and she felt herself fall backwards, Lara's body still pressed against hers.

She couldn't hold herself upright and she was falling.

The last image Sam saw before she hit the water was that of a large black wolf with one eye and a fanged smile staring down at her

* * *

**Next Encounter: Some truths and more lies to yourself**

**See Avarenda, she got a bath. Unconventionally speaking but a bath nonetheless.**


	8. Chapter 8

**I totally lied. Apparently this isn't the last encounter because I changed my mind, but have no idea why, so don't ask. I edited the last chapter so there wouldn't be any confusion.**

**...rawr**

* * *

**Chapter 8: Facing Your Demons**

Sam dragged Lara out from the water and to the the waterfall's secret cave entrance. She panted heavily, grunting as she tried to lift Lara up. Lara was dead weight now, but she could still feel the taller girl breathing unevenly. Sam was grateful she was even breathing at all after that fall. With great effort, Sam half carried-half pulled Lara further into the cave, which was lit in various places by torches, until she couldn't feel her legs any longer. She slowly lowered Lara against the wall, giving the girl a quick once over to inspect for any bullet wounds.

She still couldn't believe she managed to survive that fall and save both herself and Lara. She wasn't Wonder Woman, hell she almost failed every gym class she ever took, but now wasn't the time to argue why the Universe gifted her with such miraculous swimming skills at the time.

Now was the opportunity to get a good luck at Lara.

Sam saw a considerable amount of the dirt and blood had washed away in the river leaving behind a cleaner, more human girl in their absence. Gone was the savage Sam had seen and now she was presented with a girl, just a girl. With shaky hands, Sam cupped Lara's face in both hands and tilted the girls head back so that she could get a better look.

Sam felt her breath catch in her throat when Lara nuzzled into Sam's hands, murmuring fragmented words in Russian. She turned her face into Sam's hand and briefly, Sam could feel cold lips press against the palm of her hand and linger there. The Asian's face grew hot, briefly wondering if Lara was really conscious and just fucking with her, and she quickly went back to her task of finding any new wound on the girl. There were a few scraps and bruises, but nothing life threatening.

That wolf she had seen must have been pissed off at Lara for whatever reason and tried to take her out. How did Lara survive for this long with an animal like that always biting at her heel? Then again, Sam had witnessed first hand the brute strength Lara possessed when she first met her. Back then, Lara was less chatty towards Sam and went out of her way to avoid Sam, emotionally anyways. Now, Lara was trying her hardest to keep Sam at arm's reach, but for some reason, Lara seemed different.

Sam wanted so badly to believe Lara was doing this all for her, but the things Lara said and did were just too much.

With a sigh, Sam removed her hands from Lara's face and pressed her back against the wall next to Lara, thinking about what to do next.

"This is just perfect," Sam muttered darkly.

She was cold, wet and hungry.

Lara shifted in her unconscious state and something that was sticking from the loop of her belt, slide completely out. Sam tilted her head to the side and lifted up the plastic wrapped object with curiosity.

It was a book.

She knew it wasn't hers to look at, but someone like her, nosy beyond measure, had a hungry curiosity. Sam took care in unwrapping the black, leather-bound book. It was worn down from age, probably, and had a simple belt buckle like clasp to keep it closed, but that was nearly broken and was now kept close by a thumb tack. The pages were ripped and yellowing, bits of dirt got between the spine and some pages were sticking out in all direction without a care. She flipped it open and saw maps drawn crudely over chicken scratch.

Examining the front, Sam noticed words scratched violently into the leather.

_My Thoughts_

Sam cracked a small smile.

What sort of thoughts could a savage like Lara have?

Not one to leave a question like _that_ unanswered, Sam removed the thumb tack and turned to the first page:

_Hi._

_I'm not sure what to really write in one of these because I never had to before. My name is Lara Croft and your name is My Thoughts._

_My mother gave you to me so I can fill you with stuff in my head I can't say out loud. Father calls you a journal, but I don't know why they are so different. Mother and father always argue about what to call you. The way I see it you are everything I want and will keep my secrets unless someone forces themselves in you._

_I won't let that happen though, because I will write a lot of secrets in you and I want to keep them private. You'll protect them right?_

The entry took less than a page, so it was probably written when she was young, but who knows how long ago that was. Sam turned to the next page, but found nothing remotely interesting in that either. It was also increasingly hard to read some of the writing after the first page because of smudges, dirt and…blood. Some entries, like the first were left unmarred, which struck Sam as odd.

She backtracked before she let herself wonder too far and went to the next readable entry:

_My parents were killed in a plane crash when they were returning from Peru-_

Sam felt like someone had punched her in the gut, as she read the first line.

_…that's why I haven't written in so long. It's been depressing to even look at you, but I have to write because there is nothing else I can do right now._

_Family, friends, butlers, maids, and lawyers practically moved into the estate to go over wills and distribute money my parents left specifically for them._

_He always stood behind me in the room to watch over and I always saw this look in his eye whenever he is mentioned._

_I was happy when things were starting to wind down because that circus act was starting to get on my nerves, but sadly it wasn't over._

_There was the matter of me. One guy, Mr. Pety who I think is really close to my father, mentioned at one point I would have the estate and all that is within its walls, the sum of over half a trillion Euros-_

Sam's eyes bulged and she looked to Lara, who was still unconscious. She had come from money? How? Dear Lord, was this all some rich, getaway hoax to scare tourists?! Sam couldn't help but wonder, even if the idea was ridiculous, but she wasn't ruling anything out. More questions surfaced to the front of Sam's mind. She found herself continuing to read the large entry in hope she could find answers.

_-and in time would take over whatever business my parents owned._

Business? Sam thought. Well, Croft was a name that sounded like it was supposed to be known, but nothing that Sam thought about came to mind. Her father knew just about every family that was old, recognizable and, for lack of better terms, had a profitable business. It was his job to know people like that and he would brag about who he would be spending his dinner with ever since Sam was crawling. Croft might have been thrown around before, but she couldn't recall exactly for what...

With a shake of her head, Sam banished the notion of trying to remember something she couldn't and continued to read.

_He was to remain in the house me and that was when I put my foot down. It was accidental that my foot it landed on his, but still .. I outright refused to have him look after me, and I cried and begged for them to take him away._

_They thought I was crazy. I could see it in their eyes. He was the loyalist of bastards in the estate and he did no wrong in their eyes._

_So I was ignored, was told I was too young to make decisions like that._

_My uncle stepped in and became my legal guardian until I'm 18, but he won't have access to the money, well not all of it, just enough to make sure people are paid and I'm clothed and fed. I don't like him, but anything was better than him..._

_When I asked why I couldn't make decisions they all laughed like they had some inside joke, but Aunt Cynthia had told me __I'm still too young to understand the gorwn up world._

_What a load of bullocks._

_I understand plenty._

_My parents are dead. _

_They left me alone._

_What's more to understand about that?_

Sam slowly lifted her eyes from the journal to gaze back at Lara. An overwhelming sadness filled Sam and she had the urge to hug the other woman as tears pricked the back of her eyes. She didn't know anything about Lara before this journal, and now she started to see just a little bit of something other than the savage she had grown accustomed to. Instead of the nagging question of how exactly Lara ended up on Yamatai, Sam wondered what drove the girl there in the first place, if the island was her intentions.

Was it because of 'him', the man, whom Lara refused to give a name in her journal or was it the loss of her parents, who practically left her do deal with a situation no child should have to deal with?

Sam took a deep breath to try and calm herself down.

"Maybe something else might help me," Sam reasoned.

She didn't even go to the next entry she randomly flipped open a page. Like playing darts in a bar, she left it up to chance.

_The pain...it's unbearable._

_I could still hear you screaming._

_The flames...God I will never get them out my head. The image will forever be burned in my brain. _

_They cheered as you burn._

_They didn't care._

_They weren't human. They're monsters._

_While they were distracted from watching...you..._

_Oh God._

_I can't do this. I don't want to keep writing anymore about this. I feel sick and everything hurts again. but I have to because if I didn't you'd get angry with me. I'm sorry._

_I'm so sorry, Alicia. I'm sorry I couldn't save you. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry._

Sam read two more full pages of 'I'm sorry' until the last one was cut off. The words ran together, became less organized. The words ran all over the pages, letters on top of each other in a chaotic mess and written as if Lara was trying to tear through the paper with the tip of her pen. Sam had felt a tear roll down her cheek and fall on top of the open book. Her mind was starting to break with all the questions piling inside it and she flung the journal away as if it had offended her somehow and maybe it had. She hated it now and hated how it made her feel bad.

Sam just wanted to know about Lara a little better. _What the hell is wrong with this world? _Sam thought bitterly.

At that moment, Lara released a groan, which startled Sam, and she slowly opened her eyes to look at Sam. Without thinking, Sam closed whatever distance she had between herself and Lara and quickly inspected Lara for any signs of trauma, shortness of breath, etc. Lara somehow managed a smile and a laugh when she pried her eyes fully open to find Sam hovering over her.

"Hi." Lara said lamely.

"Hi yourself," Sam whispered back, still staring hard into those eyes as if she expected them to harden into steel, but they remained soft and tired.

Lara must have seen something on Sam and she reached her hands out tentatively to place her hand against Sam's cheek, "Are you okay?"

"F-fine." Sam croaked back, but quickly cleared her throat, "I'm fine. Thank you."

"You look like you've been crying." Lara replied.

Nothing got past her apparently.

"I'm fine really." Sam assured as she rubbed her eyes, "And what about you?" Sam asked and became highly aware that she was practically in Lara's lap, "How are your injuries?"

"Good as new." Came the short response. Lara's eyes trailed off to the side, and she spotted the open book next to Sam's foot, "Is…is that mine?"

Realizing what Lara was staring at, Sam made a mad scramble to distance herself from Lara and moved away from her and the journal. Her face burned in shame when she saw the hurt expression etch itself across Lara's face.

"I-yes, it's yours. I was um…reading it…"

Lara didn't look angry or sound like she was, "How much?"

She sounded curious more than anything.

"U-up to the part where you went to boarding school…"

Lara closed her eyes and tilted her head back against the wall, "I had that book…since I was a little girl. I don't remember everything that happened to me when I read it, but it's good to have reminders you know."

There was a silence before Sam finally asked:

"Are you mad at me?"

Lara inhaled deeply; her nostrils flaring for a moment and Sam thought she was going to unleash hell.

"No, I'm not mad at you." She then added in Japanese, "_Just a little upset you didn't ask first_."

Sam rolled her eyes, but decided to respond back in Japanese, "_Sorry, but it's hard to ask you for anything when you're unconscious. I'll remember to ask next time_."

"_That's all I ask_," Lara said, "How long was I out?"

"_A few hours I suppose_," Sam estimated, but she had no idea.

Lara cracked a smile, "You're Japanese is good, but not better than mine."

Sam felt her cheeks heat up and pouted, "How can you be the judge of that? I lived in Japan most of my life. You're stuck here on an island so how you even know Japanese is beyond me-"

"Himeko taught me." Lara replied and straightened herself up.

"And that…isn't Himeko, like dead of something. How can she teach you anything? And you were talking to her the other day." Sam pointed out, "Are you sure she's just not another figment of your imagination?"

Lara looked like someone kicked her puppy, "So you're saying I'm crazy?"

Sam quickly backtracked and stuttered out, "N-no! I...didn't-well...maybe I did...okay you are. Just a little though cause, come on. You're saying you talk to the dead. A dead goddess at that."

"I suppose...maybe just a little..."

Lara trailed off and then sighed. She brought her legs to her chest and lazily rested her chin in between her knees, "No...I don't think I am."

Sam tilted her head to the side, "Tell me about her."

"Who?"

"Himeko. How did you two meet?"

When things are no longer normal in your life, turn to something (someone) who is familiar with the abnormal.

"How did we meet?" Lara repeated and closed her eyes for a moment, "We didn't exactly meet. Almost three years ago, I was going to be sacrificed to her so she could be resurrected."

"That's horrible!"

"And when I was being prepped for sacrificing, I grabbed someone's gun and shot him in the foot. I didn't know how to use it at first, but it's easy you know, pulling a trigger. I was told guns were bad, evil, and that it was hard to even hold it in your hands because the weight of what you were going to do with it would make it feel heavy." Lara chuckled to herself. Sam suspected she was off in her own world now, forgetting there was another human being in the facility, "What a load of shit that was. That was the easy part actually, holding it. The weight didn't come until after I realized that I blew his brains out."

Sam didn't dare breathe a word, but she did sneeze. She was still very wet and the cold was setting into her bones.

"Come here." Lara groaned and spread her arms out in front of her.

Sam blinked once and stared at Lara like she grew a second head.

"Ah...come again?"

With a huff, Lara twisted her body and encircled her arms around Sam, erecting a squeal from the shorter girl and righted herself. She pulled Sam along with her and had her in her lap before Sam could ask what she was doing. Sam must have swallowed her tongue because she couldn't-didn't-protest.

"T-thank you..." Sam whispered into Lara's shoulder and the slightly taller girl held Sam tighter.

Sam couldn't get used to the smell of dirt and sweat, but on Lara it didn't smell that bad.

"This place," Lara said, "Can be very unforgiving."

"Yeah." Sam agreed.

"So, I'm going to go find your friends later."

"Uh huh."

"And get you all out of here."

Sam couldn't hold back her smile, which was left unseen by Lara, "Thank you, Lara."

Lara had fallen silent and when she didn't say anything further, Sam thought she had fallen asleep. Not having the courage to look Lara in the eyes earlier, Sam turned her head to face Lara and found she was, in fact, sleeping. Her eyes were closed and she was steadily breathing, completely dead to the world. Sam carefully, quietly, moved herself towards the journal and wrapped it back in its plastic covering, silently apologizing to it (and Lara) for being so impulsive and reading what was private.

Her curiosity would have to wait just a little longer.

* * *

Lara twitched in her sleep.

Sam frowned and gently touched Lara's hand, only to be batted away, but Lara still remained asleep. She didn't think anything of it and continued to get ready.

The sun has long since gone down and Sam, for lack of better words, was starving.

She didn't think anything of it at the time, but she figured she was safe from the cultists, who probably presumed them both dead, so it was probably safe to get food. Sam took one of the guns Lara had strapped in a holster. Of course, she didn't have a clue how to really use a gun, but she would fair better with that than taking Lara's bow (who would probably lose whatever sanity she had left if she discovered it missing). It was better to take something Lara wouldn't miss, like the extra gun she totes around with.

Filled with a renewed purpose, Sam slipped past the waterfall and into the night.

* * *

"_Lara...Lara wake up they're coming."_

_Who...who's coming?_

_I search with my eyes but all I see is darkness._

_"Lara, please. Hurry. They're coming."_

_Who?_

_A flash of white light blinds me and I shield my eyes. A soft, gentle hand takes my own and removes it from my face. Robes of gold, red and blue fills my vision._

_"Sam, you must find Sam."_

_I don't understand. Sam is here. I already found her._

_A smile, so warm and inviting, answers me._

_"Stop them before they resurrect me, Lara. You must not let them sacrifice Sam. Hurry, before it's too late."_

Lara jolted up from her sleep; she had broken out in a cold sweat, but she ignored it and looked around in a mad search for Sam. The woman in question was no where to be seen and with a curse, Lara grabbed her journal and shoved it into her belt. One of her guns was missing.

"Fuck!" Lara exclaimed and punched the wall, breaking the skin over her knuckles, "I'm going to kill that little-"

A shadows passed in front of the waterfall and her sentence is cut off by her own screaming and she ran from beneath the waterfall. She tackled the unsuspecting being into the water and holds them under, screaming obscurities in Russian and Japanese. A blow to her temple forced Lara off the person and she was lifted and thrown onto the shore.

"Shit..." Lara groaned and she allowed herself to lay there.

Everything hurt.

"You're tellin' me. You got a mean left hook there lass." came a soft chuckle.

Lara didn't bother to raise her head, "I suppose...you're looking for Sam."

She didn't mean for it to sound like a question.

"You must be Lara? The girl who saved me? I'm Roth, but enough with the introductions," He said almost forcefully, "I got separated from the rest of the group. They probably went back to the beach. Sam's probably there to-"

Lara gave a sharp laugh, startling the man, "She's gone."

His eyes grew wide, "What?"

"She was here, but she's gone. Gone gone gone gone she fucking gone with the wind. Like a dandelion and I let her go."

Lara snickered to herself as a smile spread across her face and she sat up to meet Roth, who was trying to dry his wet clothes. He had stopped to watch her with a calculating glare. Roth could see it in her eyes, she wasn't quite there.

She continued to smile.

"Do you know where she might have gone?"

"I know. I know because Himeko will tell me. She'll lead me to Sam like she always has, because I have to protect Sam because Himeko told me I have to. She told me that I had to or the world will end. Himeko knows where Sam is," Lara answered, "The monsters have her. They have her and they're going to kill her."

Roth's face hardened at this, trying to let the information sink in, but also his brain tried to make sense of what she said.

"Can you take me to her?"

"No."

The response was unexpected and Roth tried not to get testy. He played his next card, hoping for sympathy.

"I've known Sam since she was a little girl. I have to find her."

"I can't tell you what to do old man," Lara said as she stood, wiping the dirt from her elbows, "Because that would just be rude, so...I'm going to walk off in some direction and you are-or not depending on how smart you are-going to follow me and _maybe_ I'll stumble upon that god forsaken Shanty Town and you can-or not- help me."

Roth raised a thick eyebrow as Lara continued.

"Again this all depends on you."

Roth blinked a few times at what Lara said, but could easily hear the suggestiveness in her tone. He patted the rifle he had looped on his arm and nodded towards the direction Lara knew to have been the beach.

"My friends are over there now. We can meet up with them and you can tell them what you told me."

"Are you suggesting I follow you?" Lara questioned.

"They found the boat you told them about and probably started fixing it up. I'd like to get that up and running before we head out to get Sam. We can make a quick escape afterwards."

Lara shrugged and wordlessly walked away. Roth, panicked, grabbed for Lara's arm but stopped himself when he saw just where she was walking off to. It was towards the beach. A soft smile graced the aging man's face and quickly retreated his hand to rest it on the back of his head sheepishly.

_She's not so bad after all._

* * *

Roth rubbed his eyes when he realized he had spoken too soon.

Lara stood over Whitman's cowering form on the sand, her knuckles broken and blooded. James's nose was bleeding and possibly broken, but Lara didn't care. Her face was devoid of all emotions, even with Reyes screaming at her about how psychotic she was; Lara didn't take notice and kept her attention focused solely on James. It happened faster than Roth could see. One minute Lara was standing besides him when they returned on the beach, the next thing he knew she had ran up to James and clobbered him in the face without hesitation.

The attack was unprovoked from everyone else's standpoint, but Lara had a reason, an illogical one, but a reason nonetheless.

"For your sake," Lara said in a low growl, "There's still time to save Sam. Otherwise I'm going to make you suffer."

"Oud ov yur gawddamn mind!" James sputtered out through bloody teeth.

Lara kicked sand at him and looked towards Reyes, who had backed down considerably once she caught the look in Lara's eyes. Roth sighed; he was getting to old for this and he was tired. It had taken Lara and him till dawn to return to the beach and all he wanted to do was sleep. That wasn't likely by the looks of things.

"The boat is going to need repairs right?" Lara asked, gesturing towards the small boat not too far away.

Reyes glared at Lara, "I was working on it until I needed my gear, which is on our now blown up ship."

"Alex went to go get it?" Roth inquired. Alex was nowhere to be seen so he assumed that was the case.

"Yeah, damn kid should have stayed here though." Reyes sighed tiredly and helped James to his feet, "Go see Johan, he'll probably have something the pain."

James nodded and wondered off to find the other man.

Reyes turned her attention back to Lara, who found something interesting in the wreckage of the Endurance. Roth couldn't help but chuckle at how small the girl's attention span was. Lara was sitting along the shoreline, turning a small piece of metal in her hand left and right and examining it with great interest. The dark skinned woman made her way over to Lara until she was looming over the girl, blocking the sun.

"Just what the hell is your problem?" Reyes practically snarled at Lara.

Lara eyebrows creased, "My problem is you're in my light."

"What did James ever do to you that you had to hit him?" Reyes demanded hotly, "Apologize to Whitman or else-"

"Or else what?" Lara questioned, bringing the scrape of metal to her face and her eyes squinted just a bit, "The way I see it, if I wanted to, I could slit your throat and you'd never see it coming."

"You little shit!" Reyes growled and moved to kick Lara in the head. She would have too, if Lara hadn't caught her ankle mid-swing and pulled her leg from underneath her. Reyes's back hit the sand and she found herself looking at the sky.

Standing up, Lara stuck the metal piece into her pocket and dusted the sand from her hands, "I'll go get Alex. From the looks of this he'll never find what you want in time and we don't have a lot of that...I'll be back in a bit."

No one sent her off with well wishes, but she didn't expect them to. Roth, however, did give Lara a walkie-talkie to help locate where Alex was. She had taken it without a word of thanks. If Lara had to think logically about this: they were merely the tools to meet her end. Once they outgrew their usefulness than she'd be rid of them.

* * *

_Roughly 2 hours later_

Lara stretched her arms into the air, yawning slightly. She was tired, far more tired than she felt she should have been. Reaching the main haul of the Endurance was an easy enough task, but it was finding the bastard Alex that was the problem and it felt like she was going around in circles. Scattered at her feet were the bodies of several, poor, unfortunate souls who thought they could take her own. She poked one of the bodies with her foot. Lara had taken off his hand with her ax, and the missing appendage was somewhere in the room and that meant Lara had to find it, but later.

She still needed to find Alex.

Lara navigated her way into a room of the ship, hoping to find anything useful for herself. She froze once she was in the middle of the room. It was like a small bedroom of sorts, with two beds stacked on top of each other-now messy and the mattresses tossed in different directions, and it even had a closet. Curiosity took over and Lara went to the closet. One of the doors looked like it was blown off, so all Lara had to do was peer inside it.

"Ooooh is this Sam?" Lara wondered out loud when she saw a few pictures tacked to the door of the closet.

She took the pictures and stuffed them into her pocket. Lara went to the sink, rummaging through the cabinet above it and grabbed whatever medical supplies were available. Satisfied with her haul, Lara shut the cabinet and was ready to move on. That was until, her reflection caught her attention. Although the mirror was caked in a thin layer of dust, Lara could see herself.

It had been a long time since Lara had looked into a mirror and she was not prepared for it either.

Was that really her in the mirror?

Lara lifted her hands, both trembling slightly, and pressed both to the mirror. The blood on her hands smeared across the surface, "T-this is..."

_Why do we looked so shocked?_

Lara screamed as her reflection spoke. A twisted grin spread across the mirror image's face when Lara removed her hands.

_This is who we are. _The reflection continued. _Look at us. Blood soaked to the bone with the killer's eyes. We've killed so many and survived here without relying on anyone but ourselves. But the blood. The blood bothers us doesn't it?_

Lara demanded, 'You're not me! I'm me! I'm not you, you fucking bitch!"

_We still have so much blood on our hands. We wonder, could we still hold anyone with those same hands, knowing we've killed countless? It doesn't matter how many times Himeko cleanses us. The blood will always remain._

"Shut up!"

Why didn't she just shut up?

_We wonder...if Sam will ever let us hold her again._

"I don't need to hold her! I just have to protect her! That's all I was asked to do!"

_We may not realize it, but Sam has effected us just as Alicia once did. If Himeko had not ordered it, we would have still protected Sam. We are lonely, Lara. We are also tired of this and want to be free and Sam is our only way out._

"No!" Lara felt her hands tighten into fists. Blood slowly begin to seep from the crescent moon shaped wounds she was inflicting into the palm of her hands, "I..URGH! My only job is to get Sam off this island!"

_Maybe we can go with her. Away from this place that suffocates us..._

"This is my home!"

_This place is nothing more than a shelter for animals._

Lara punched the mirror before she could stop herself, shattering the image within, "I am _not_ an animal." the young woman snarled, and she ignored the pain that shot through her arm upon hitting the glass.

"Hey who's done here?!" A male's voice echoed in the corridor. Then the sound of running filled Lara's ears.

Fueled with pure adrenaline, Lara snatched a piece of broken glass that had fallen inside the sink and ran out the room. She was moving to fast that she slammed right into the man, but her wits were still with her and she did not allow the encounter to slow her down. Lara, clenching the glass, sliced right through the man's jugular, but she didn't stop there. With an animalistic cry, Lara wedged the glass deeper into the man's neck and continued to cut into him. His flesh gave way with ease, making it all the more inviting for Lara to drive the glass into him. Blood gushed from each cut she made, spraying over her like a waterfall. Soon she lost the glass piece. It slipped through her fingers when she raised it to strike the man in his heart, so instead she gripped the side of his head with both hands and bashed his head into the ground repeatedly until his skull cracked and his brains spilled out.

She did not stop even long after the man stopped moving, but she did when there was nothing left of his head to crush. Lara tried to control her breathing, but she was finding it hard. She looked down at the body beneath her and then at the fresh blood that colored her hands and clothes. It didn't bother her in the slightest, but in the back of her mind she wondered what Sam would have thought, if she saw her like this.

Through lifeless eyes, Lara saw a small, burlap sack against the wall. Some of the blood had soaked through it, but Lara was not discouraged from going over to it.

Climbing to her feet, Lara stumbled towards the bag and picked it up. When she opened it she was surprised to find a sack full of mechanical tools. She wasn't about to question why the enemy was wondering around with it, but this had made her job easier. Alex was supposed to be looking for tools and she found some which means she didn't need to find Alex.

He could find his own way back.

"I can get out of here," Lara sighed in relief. She really needed to get back to the beach.

Just as she turned, something crunched under her foot.

Lara growled and lifted her foot, only to find a now broken pair of glasses, "I hate to be the poor bastard who lost these."

* * *

**The (official) Last Encounter: The fate of Sam rest in Lara's hands.**

I know, I know, cliff hanger. I'm sorry. How else am I supposed to keep you all waiting for the next chapter?


End file.
